More-Than-Human World by Eiko Soga
Eiko Soga is an artist and researcher whose work revolves around the idea of 'making' as a mode of ethnographic research. She is interested in storytelling and small scale everyday processes that are linked to wider cultural phenomena and development, and the value systems that inform our ideas. In 'More-Than-Human World', Soga presents images that were taken during her time in Hokkaido, learning contemporary Ainu elders' wisdom. Soga's research-led art projects, question how the practice of art can embody and share ‘felt knowledge’ of the more-than-human world.
In November 2021 Fusion Arts partnered with TORCH to deliver two installations by Soga as part of TORCH's Humanities Cultural Programme: Japan Season.
The exhibitions combined video projections, photography, poetry and ethnography to explore the value system of the Ainu population, the indigenous people of the Japanese and Russian owned lands that surround the Sea of Okhotsk. These works stem therefore from Soga's own time and research spent living with Ainu communities in Hokkaido, Japan, that act as the core of her thinking and process. For instance, in My Neighbour's Meal, Soga focused on the food and cooking traditions and practises of the Ainu people.
'A History of Ordinary People in Africa' was on display in the #WindowGalleries from 08th November 2021 to the 30th November 2021.
