performance with Brian Patterson
"Ryouiki no Yukiki"; Someth;ng Studios; London, England. 2006
March 14 is known as ‘White Day’ in Japan, where I was living. On White Day, gifts are reciprocated to those who had given you a gift (to whom you had not given a gift) on Valentine’s Day. White day is, in essence, ‘Unrequited Love Day’.
It is exactly a month after Valentine’s Day. The Irish artist, Brian Patterson, travelled to London from Belfast to perform with me. Seeing as it was White Day, we reflected that the “misses” in love occur far more frequently than the “hits”.
We sat facing each other, hands outstretched, with one person’s downward-facing palms a few inches above the other person’s upward-facing palms. We attempted to play the child’s game of “bottoms-slap-tops” with our eyes closed. Meanwhile, we simultaneously listed the “misses” in our own lives - those we loved who did not love us, and those who loved us whom we did not love – stating the name of the person, year, and location where it had taken place. Whenever either of our hands were slapped (by pure chance), we stopped speaking, opened our eyes, and engaged in a staring contest. When one person or the other blinked, the blind hand-slapping game resumed.
photos by: Yago Tomoyuki