Knit the town
1955 is said to have been the heyday of the home knitting machine. In this project, I modified an electronic home knitting machine made in the 1990s and produced a piece with data sent from a computer.
This piece was produced as participatory communication art between July 18 and August 23, 2015.
“Knit the Town” was conducted in Tamashima, Kurashiki in Okayama Prefecture — a historical town which has flourished since the Edo period. I walked around the town of Tamashima, taking pictures with parts of the scenery cut away and interviewing residents of the town, whom I borrowed memorable pictures from. I modified the pictures to the size of a knit and sewed them, tailoring the piece to be wearable. Finally, I went to the scene location of the original photos wearing the piece I made and took pictures. All of this was done in a workshop style.
Aside from scenes from the town, I also borrowed memorable photos and pictures showing the old scenery of the town from people living in the community for the piece. I asked women in their 80s about topics such as their childhood memories and events from the time. In talking to them, stories of the war always came up.
I personally had never had the opportunity to directly ask about or hear stories of the war. I did hear stories of the war on this project and I truly feel that I was able to do something to leave memories of these stories behind as part of the work. And, what I realized through this was that the sewing machine was a machine that could even serve as a communication tool. Moving forward, I will expand the Knit the Town series overseas and develop these works with a knitting culture that is shared all around the world as my opening.