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In 2023, during their residency at VILLA KUJOYAMA, Karine Arabian and Franck Blais (JN.Mellor Club) immersed themselves in a Japan steeped in ceremonies and rituals, where beliefs, Shintoism, and ancestral traditions remain deeply present.
Fascinated by the instruments and tools dedicated to these rites, they created a series of objects/sculptures, each piece seemingly originating from an ancient and obscure ritual.
They gathered abandoned objects and fragments from various places in Kyoto, which they assembled and wrapped in Japanese leather, crafted using millennia-old tanning techniques: a white leather, “shironameshi,” tanned with water from the Himeji River, salt, and rapeseed oil; and a black leather, “kurozan,” lacquered with urushi, the traditional Japanese lacquer.
Each intervention reflects a meticulous approach, as if the process were about repairing, caring for, and enveloping—giving birth to new objects with forms that are both mysterious and familiar.

Series of 29 fictional objects/tools made of shironameshi and kurozan leather, thread, wood, and mixed materials.

Series of 9 totemic objects, archaic yet poetic artifacts, made of shironameshi, kurozan, and plunged lamb leather, bamboo, stone, and mixed materials.

Miniature golf club, golf ball, and golf tee decorations arranged on a surface
A piece of bread with a butterfly-shaped wire sculpture resting on it.
A beige leather golf club headcover designed to resemble a dog, with black nose and black accents, and featuring a handle with black and white stripes.
A modern sculpture composed of different materials and objects, including a black stone, a red stone, a wooden rod, a metal rod, and a padded beige material, arranged on a flat surface against a plain background, with a black marble column on the left side.

During the Nuit Blanche in Kyoto, in October 2024, these objects were activated in the performance Monomi, in collaboration with the artist duo Disconoma (Fanny Terno and Thomas Vauthier).

Watch the video : Monomi

A young woman dressed in a black kimono kneels on a tatami mat, holding a small object, in a room with traditional Japanese decor illuminated by blue and red lights. Behind her, two young men in modern blue jackets sit on a raised platform, reflected in a large circular mirror.
Art installation with wooden blocks, tools, and objects on white platforms decorated with vibrant pink and blue neon lights, set on a tatami mat floor.