岡崎真奈美

Manami Okazaki

What I found in Timor Island was a villager with an untailored cloth wrapped around his waist and shoulders. A piece of cloth as a garment can be used in a variety of ways, such as wrapping, covering, and laying, thus the cloth wrapped around the body can also be considered as a wearable tool. These cloths are made by the women of the family. Just like as the movements of the hands that turn the spindle, and the adjustment of the warp threads on the backstrap loom by supporting them with their waist, the women's body’s function work as a part of the tools, and their personal feelings and techniques are woven into textile when making cloth for family. The cloth has played a ceremonial role, and the patterns have meaning to remember the history of the island in place of letters. The participation of outsiders who came to visit the island looking for the cloth, move the cloth out of the island time and space inside the community, to the other destinations where those are welcomed and valued in different ways. Through the camera lens magic, the relationship between cloth and villager of Timor Island, which should be visible but invisible with the naked eye, are captured and carried out of the island, so as to be seen as memories that will not change wherever we live.