I stayed in a little village called Honmura when I visited Naoshima island. After exploring the art museums designed by Tadao Ando and the Benesse Art Site, I viewed the art installations in the houses in Honmura.
Honmura is full of tiny little streets and traditional wooden houses like these:
And while most of them were residential, there are a couple which are home to art installations. The Benesse art organisation renovated empty houses and the artists created installations inside the houses. And most of the time you can’t see from the outside if it is an art house or a normal house with people living in it. (Sorry, no photos inside the houses).
There was only one obvious one. I don’t know if you can see it but it had a large replica of the Statue of Liberty inside it.
There were several cute looking cafes which were unfortunately closed most of the time. I was really struggling to find places to eat in the mornings and evenings, so I wouldn’t recommend staying in Honmura directly. There are other areas which seemed a bit more lively.
The island residents have obviously taken to the Yayoi Kusama pumpkins very well:
There was a shrine which also housed an art project.
Someone’s backyard.
One of the very few shops.
This was on a wall. Made out of string.
Here’s a random piece of art in between fields and woods. It’s a massive bin (about 3 meters high). I happened to take a foot path in between museums, so came across this. Good thing I didn’t take the bus!
All photos taken by me on my LC-A+ and LC-Wide on 35mm film. My Japanese go-to electronics shop BIC Camera did the development and scanning and was a bit sloppy on the cropping this time! Hence the black border on some images. You just can’t get the staff these days…
Hello Rabea 