Saturday, January 07, 2006

Playing Mas With Washi


Prancing Japanese in Mino, Japan with a Trinidad and Tobago twist


A washi carnival costume, Mino, Japan, 2005

Look closely at the image above. This is a proud moment for Trinidad and Tobago. Don’t mind the blur, what is important is that the camera has captured Japanese children wearing carnival costumes made from washi and they are also prancing to steelband music played by a Japanese pan player. The Trinidadian artist Marlon Griffith designed these costumes at the Mino Paper Village Artist Residency in 2005.

Artist in Residency is Japan’s key to promote their culture through the vision of international practicing Artists. The Mino Paper Village project since 1998 have invited artist to the city of Mino, a rural town in Japan’s Gifu prefecture historically known for its handmade paper washi.


Thebookmann's Washi Lantern, 2002

One of Mino’s annual festivals is the Washi Paper Lantern competition. Over 700 entries throughout Japan participate. The exhibition includes professional and non=professionals and draws a crowd of over 20 thousand people through the two narrow streets in the village of Mino.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard at thebookmann brings us Playing Mas With Washi, highlighting the designs of Trinidadian artist Marlon Griffith at the Mino Paper Village Artist Residency in Japan. Interesting reading ...

I've discovered thebookmann, who focuses on art in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world, thanks to Georgia Popplewell at Global Voices.

Anonymous said...

Marlon has always managed to step up to the challenge no matter what the odds. He is a good example of the artist who focuses on the perfect execution of the design rather than just getting the job done.

Well done MARLON!

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