Shimura Nobuhiro's contribution to “Roppongi Crossing 2016” is a video dealing with cattle raised on a remote island in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and it is this work that we showcase in this fifth in a series of blogs on “Roppongi Crossing 2016” artists and their offerings.
Japanese Cattle
2015
Single-channel video (8mm black and white film on video)
20 min.
Courtesy: Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo
Installation view: “Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice,” Mori Art Museum, 2016
Photo: Nagare Satoshi
Shimura Nobuhiro, who spent three years living and working in Yamaguchi after moving there from Yokohama, produced the 8mm film work Japanese Cattle (2015), which focuses on cattle bred on the island of Mishima in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Mishima cattle, a protected species on account of their status as pure Japanese cattle that have never been crossed with imported breeds, were once used for draught purposes. In the film, images of the cattle and of peaceful scenes on the island and audio of farmers reminiscing about working alongside the cattle are combined. Despite the fact that the footage is of contemporary Japanese events, the black-and-white film along with the distinctive dialect used by the farmers leave the viewer feeling increasingly vague as to the time and place. Shimura tells that he aimed to look back “now” from the future nostalgically. From the landscape that looks as though it has been left behind by globalism there looms both something lost and something immutable.
■Relevant Information
・Mori Art Museum
“Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice”
Period: from Saturday, March 26 - Sunday, July 10, 2016.
・“Roppongi Crossing 2016”: Artists and Works
(1) Mohri Yuko
(2) Katayama Mari
(3) Ishikawa Ryuichi
(4) Goto Yasuka
(5) Shimura Nobuhiro
(6) Kobayashi Erika
(7) Jun Yang
(8) Hasegawa Ai
