213 ☼ Four Days on the Art Islands
what I found on two quiet islands in Japan, alone with art and the sea
Dear friends,
This week, from the archives: a trip I took to Japan’s art islands of Naoshima and Teshima. It’s about the power of solo travel, and buildings shaped like water drops.
I found the photos for this issue by searching my archive with Excire, typing in words like Naoshima, Teshima, Tadao Ando, and others. More on how this tool saves me time as a very useful part of my workflow in the What I Used section. Thanks to Excire for supporting Process.
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From The Vault: The Art Islands
A friend told me I had to go to these islands. So I went.
Getting there took forever in the best way. Shinkansen (the fast train) from Tokyo, then a regular train, then another train, then a ferry across the Seto Inland Sea. It felt like I was moving further away from everything with each step of the trip, and each next step was slower than the one before. I stood on the ferry deck feeling calm and curious, wondering what I’d find. It was a solo trip, and that felt appropriate.
Naoshima and Teshima are sometimes called “art islands.” Starting in the late 1980s, these small islands were turned into places where art and architecture and regular island life all exist together. Museums are partially above and partially below the ground. Old houses were turned art installations. There’s a building shaped like a water droplet that holds just one artwork.
I went in early March, which is apparently the quietest time. Like, really quiet. I had entire museums to myself. Just me and the staff, who told me at times the wait would be 2 hours for each individual room during their high season. I felt so lucky!
I stayed in a traditional Japanese house and slept on tatami mats for the first time. Most mornings I’d walk down to the water before the island really woke up. The Seto Inland Sea at dawn is so very still. Like a mirror. The only sounds were the small engines of tiny fishing boats coming in and sometimes a bird politely shouting something that was surely fish-related as well.
I took a photo of one of those boats, just a little speck on the water. I also took a picture of a man waiting in his van by the shore, probably waiting for one of the boats. We looked at each other, smiled, and he nodded that it was okay. No words needed.
The islands were hilly, so I rented an electric bike on my first day. They gave me this great laminated map that I carried everywhere for four days. I love a good map.
Tadao Ando is my favorite architect, and he designed several buildings on these islands. The Chichu Art Museum is built into a hillside so you barely see it until you’re right there. Inside, natural light comes in through skylights. One triangle, one square, two rectangles. Almost like a playstation controller, deconstructed.
The concrete feels alive somehow. It was designed around three artists: Claude Monet, Walter De Maria, and James Turrell. I’d only seen Turrell’s work in photos before, which turns out is no way to see it. Chichu has three of his pieces: Afrum, Pale Blue, Open Field, and Open Sky.
Open Field looks like a glowing flat wall at the end of a hallway. I walked toward it, but when I got close, I realized it was not a wall at all. It was an opening into a deep space filled with colored light. It messed with my head, as my brain kept trying to understand the depth of it all and never quite figuring it out.
Later, I saw Turrell’s Backside of the Moon, which might be the strangest thing I’ve ever experienced. I was led into a completely dark room and told to sit on a bench I could not see. They told me to sit there and within 10 minutes it would become more clear to me. I was not to get up until that moment.
Slowly, my eyes adjusted and I started to see faint bits of light. Then I stood up and carefully walked toward this gentle light. I could not tell if it was 1 meter in front of me or 100. I lost all sense of where I was in space, again. It was pretty magical.
One afternoon I took the ferry to Teshima for the day. The Teshima Art Museum isn’t really a museum as much as it is one giant artwork that feels like a surreal building. It was designed by artist Rei Naito and architect Ryue Nishizawa and it’s a concrete shell shaped like a water droplet with two openings in the roof. Inside, water droplets come up from the floor and then start moving around in little streams. It’s completely absorbing. You’re not supposed to take photos there. I couldn’t help myself and took a photo, but if I went back now, I wouldn’t. I’d just sit and watch.
Back on Naoshima, I found a tiny okonomiyaki place that felt like a local spot. I sat at the counter because I wanted to watch the chef prepare the food. The menu had some English I think, but mostly it was smiling and nodding and pointing. Everyone there was older and Japanese, and they seemed happy I’d found the place. Maybe because it was so quiet that time of year. The okonomiyaki was perfect.
The receipt was confusing. It said, to my eye at least, one order of…love? It was a delicate time in my life, and I took it as more than a receipt. I still have it.
I barely talked to anyone those four days. Not in a sad way, just in a way that felt really good. I could move at my own pace. Sit with art as long as I wanted. Just be.
I came back feeling renewed and restored. The islands gave me that. When these photos come up now in my archives, I’m right back there on that bike with my laminated map, or standing in a dark room waiting for light, or watching a tiny boat on the water. I think about this trip at least once a month, still.
There’s something about traveling alone that’s different from regular alone time at home. When I travel alone, I am wide open and most in the moment. When I was surrounded by art made with such care and attention to light and space and movement, it filled me up with so much, and I can still feel it seep into my work and my process years later. If you have the chance to take a solo trip, even a day-trip, I highly recommend it.
If you enjoyed this issue, do me a small favor and share it with a friend who might too.
Talk soon, so much coming! Next week, I will be sharing some tools I’ve made that really help my practice as a working photographer. Also, a fresh giveaway!
Wesley
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📷 What I Used This Week
Camera: iPhone5 and the Canon 5D Mark IV.
My digital set up: Canon EOS R5 + Canon RF 24-70 mm f/2.8 L IS USM. Full review here.
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Great photos!
Beautiful, I love the se documentary style photos.