A Bouquet for the Lady in the House (Retrospective: Awashima 2019)

You may find my choice to introduce today an installation that was exhibited for one month only back in 2019 a bit odd, and yes, I wondered for a long time whether I should post this (and more coming later) here and now or not.

I decided to do it because I realized that I rarely get to write about the “Western islands” of Kagawa. That is some of the Shiwaku islands (Honjima, Takamijima, and Awashima) as well as Ibukijima. They often have amazing art during the Setouchi Triennale, but there is a problem: they usually only join the festival during the last seasonal session only (this will be the case again in 2025).

It is a problem for me because, during every Triennale, I usually spend every free day I have in October visiting them (as well as seeing one last time my favorite art on the other islands), and when I finally have time to write about them, they’re gone already.

So, I decided to show you some old art from these islands too, even if it’s gone. On the one hand, you may find it interesting if you’ve missed the exhibits, on the other hand, it’s a reminder to not overlook these islands when you come to Kagawa for the Setouchi Triennale.

Actually, as summers are becoming more and more unbearable here, I really advise you to prefer the Spring or Autumn sessions when you plan your visit. In the spring, you get to discover all the new art first, and in the autumn, you have these four extra islands to visit. (caveat: in 2025, some new locations are introduced, mainly the coastal towns of Eastern Kagawa, and they’ll be in the summer only.)

It’s for all of these reasons that today, I want to briefly show you A Bouquet for the Lady in the House by Vietnamese artist Dinh Q. Lê, which could be experienced on Awashima in 2019.

(and looking for a link to share with you, I just found out with horror that he passed last April at the age of 56 😥)

The idea of A Bouquet for the Lady in the House was to redecorate an abandoned house in Awashima with a mix of traditional Japanese and Vietnamese culture.

Here is what it looked like:

The main piece of the installation was this rug. There was a small text accompanying it that I’m retranscribing here:

The rug on the floor of this house is made in Saigon, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City). Saigon has one of the largest garment factories in the world, and this work was realized in collaboration with a group of women who produced various crafts by reusing unnecessary scraps.
Please feel free to walk, to sit, to rest, and to enjoy the space. The things left in this empty house and the sand elsewhere represent the accumulation of time. This house has been running shipping agent business for generations. This work revitalizes the house with the flowers of the rugs, and is dedicated to the ladies who kept this house neat for a long time.

The Setouchi Triennale 2019 book also adds that the “work represented a bouquet offered to the generations of mothers who had watched over this home.”

I must add that the rug was indeed extremely comfortable and that it was a pleasure to walk on it.

Finally, the front of the house used to have a shop (or an office when it was a shipping agent—a common activity in the Shiwaku islands in the past) and during the Triennale the space is often used as a restaurant. In 2019, it served the perfect dish for such a place, as it was Phở Udon. It was phở soup served with udon noodles instead of the usual phở noodles, and it was as delicious as it sounds. But I’m biased, as Phở and Udon are my two favorite noodle soup dishes. I get plenty of one nowadays, but I haven’t had the other one in years.

Do you enjoy these retrospectives? I hope you do, I plan on doing more. However, maybe I should focus in priority on the permanent art that is on these “autumn islands?” What do you think?

That’s all for today. Stay tuned for more.