Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

112 REFIGURATION OF IDENTITIES AND FUTURES IN TIMES OF TRANSFORMATIONBONES IN TANSU — FAMILY SECRETSYoshiko ShimadaIntroductionMy art project, “Bones in Tansu—Family Secrets,”originally started in Tokyo in 2004. It travelled toKorea in 2005, and with the API fellowship, I wasable to conduct it in Metro Manila, Chiang Mai andYogyakarta. The project was comprised of an installation,a workshop and a discussion in each country. Theinstallation consisted of a tansu (chest of drawers) anda writing booth. Each drawer contained a secret anda piece of artwork. The audience was encouraged topeek into the drawers and to write their own secretsand put these secrets into a box. I checked the box everyday and made new artworks based on the secrets. Theinstallation period lasted from two to four weeks. Afterthis period, I conducted a talk and discussion with theaudience. I also conducted workshops to share andfurther understand these secrets.The objective of this project was to provide a safe arenafor the silenced to express their experiences and sharethese with others in public without risking their privacy.Creating this space was the ultimate purpose of thisproject. This was not, however, a tool for sociologicalresearch. For research purposes, this installation wasnot wide-ranging enough and not verifiable. Thus, theaudience was not the subject of a research project, butwas an essential participant and collaborator in thisart project. Through their secrets, I could make someassessment of their society, an assessment that wasshared and discussed with the audience through theworkshops.The significance of this project, therefore, did not liein providing answers to the problems. Rather, it layin empowering the audience and in encouraging itsmembers to relate to and empathize with each other.This installation served to erase the border between thepublic and private spheres and to make the audienceaware that their private and familial problems are notjust personal, but also political.The project was realized in Metro Manila at theUniversity of the Philippines in Diliman (UP Diliman)from 1 August to 15 September 2006, at the ChiangMai University (CMU) Art Museum in February 2007and at the Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta in July2007.FindingsThere are some particular issues which interest eachlocal audience. In the beginning of each new location,I presented the secrets from the previous region. In thePhilippines, I put secrets from Japan and Korea into thedrawers. The audience reacted strongly to some of thesecrets. However, I do not intend to essentialize theseproblems to a particular region since they existed inthe previous region. Still, I want to know the reasonsbehind this strong reaction to particular issues ineach site. There are some secrets that appear only in acertain site. For example, political affiliation appearsas secrets only in Manila. On the one hand, this couldindicate that there are more political problems in thePhilippines. On the other, it could indicate that thereis greater disillusionment or apathy toward anythingpolitical in other countries. Moreover, it may be thecase that there is more oppression or self-censorshipagainst political expressions in other countries. Thereis no one reading of these particularities and I am nottrying to find one conclusion. My purpose is to presenteach region’s particularities and provide some insightsso they can be shared and empathized with by peopleoutside the region. The following pages present some ofthese issues and findings.Metro ManilaThe venue for the installation was the Faculty Center ofUP Diliman where there is a great deal of faculty andstudent traffic. I collected altogether over 250 secrets.Most were written by students and 90 percent werein English. From previous installations in Tokyo andSeoul, I realized that the audience reacted to certainsecrets already provided in the drawers. For example,in the case of Metro Manila, many reacted very stronglyto a secret from Korea about incestuous sexual abuseagainst children. As a result, an overwhelming number,about 40 percent of all secrets, were about child abuse.I discussed this with students in three lectures andasked them to write papers about it. Some wrote thatthe reason behind this is alcohol or substance abuse byAsian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows