A small island in Okinawa

17.-21. Augusut. 2005 in Tokashiki island, Okinawa

shirt, coral, embroidery thread, ink, paint, colour pencil, thread

I was on a small island in Okinawa. There were no materials to sew, nothing that I could use for my work. There was only beautiful ocean and sun. I walked along the beach and found pieces of coral that looked like buttons. I drew traditional okinawan textile patterns on a shirt and then sewed the coral buttons onto it. More than six hundred people were killed or killed themselves at the end of the Second World War on the island. It was hard to imagine that those who had committed sucide had to chosen death in such a beautiful and quiet place.