honmura – Hello Rabea

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:

honmura art house project

honmura naoshima

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.

honmura naoshima

honmura art house project

me in the mirror

Continue reading “Naoshima island – Art House Project in Honmura” →

Naoshima island used to be home to a few fishermen and farmers, however the number of population was decreasing quickly, due to the dying fishing industry and old age of the population.

Naoshima island

Until the artists came! Today, Naoshima island has a number of art museums and art installations as well as sculptures scattered across the island. What was once a run down island without any real future now has a thriving art community and has become an international tourist destination.

One of the most iconic and famous sculptures is the pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, an internationally renowned Japanese artist who I personally like a lot. So of course I had to go to the island and see her pumpkins! There are actually a yellow one and a red one.

Yayoi Kusama pumpkin

Continue reading “Naoshima island – art and farmland” →