Cave to Dream, 2019
Multimedia installation with sound, hand drawn animation, and videos,
including Snow (13:38), Onyx (5:37), Shadow (6:37), Salt (6:25) 

In Cave to Dream, Cindy Mochizuki considers the passage of time, life and death, and the power of dreams. This work was developed through an artist residency at the Akita University of Art in Akita, Japan, organized by Makiko Hara and Toshiaki Ishikura in 2017, and exhibited at the Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC, in 2019. This multi-media installation unfolds as four fictional videos—Onyx, Salt, Shadow, and Snow. Building on metaphors of the cave, narratives are told by human and non-human characters that move through various dreamscapes, environments, and psychic spaces. The work draws on Mochizuki’s research in Akita, Japan, where she delved into the traditional folklore and ritual practices maintained by the residents of that region.

One of these traditional rituals includes the annual visit on December 31 of the Namahage, a demon in Japanese folklore. This New Year’s Eve ritual is traditionally performed by young men in the community who dress in the frightening masks and straw capes of the Namahage, and bang on doors demanding entrance to the home. As part of this annual tradition, the costumed Namahage blesses the habitants with good fortune for the coming year and is offered sake and food. Creatures like the Namahage reflect generations-old traditions of understanding the cyclical nature of the passage of time, endings and beginnings, life and death, and what it means to “reset” or to start again from the beginning. Sharing fictional narratives, the short films Salt, Onyx, Shadow, and Snow depict human and creature relationships that offer new ways of interpreting beginnings and endings, and the boundaries of life and death. 

The earliest work in this exhibition, Cave to Dream embodies the way in which Mochizuki transforms the gallery space so it can hold many forms and social encounters, thinking across multiple timelines and experiences. By amplifying stories of ghosts and demons carried by Asian and immigrant diasporas, this work offers a deeper understanding and connection to the diasporic experience. 

Crew/Collaborator Credits
Production Assistant and Digital Compositing: Cherry Wen Wen Lu
Sound Design and Original Compositions: Antoine Bédard
Video and Animation Editing: Candelario Andrade
Script Advisor: Hiromi Goto
Carpentry: Holden McIntosh, Marc Hansen, Minoru Yamamoto
Animation Advisor: Myron Campbell
Animation Assistant for Onyx: Luisa Elias
Costume Design: Leah Weinstein
Choreography: Aretha Aoki
Lighting Design: James Proudfoot
Ceramics Assistance: Maggie Boyd and Julia Chirka
Sound Engineer for Snow: Alex Shamku
Cinematography and Camera for Snow: Milena Salazar       
Site Assistant for Snow: Yuko Federau
Camera Assistant for Snow: Joella Cabalu
Percussionist: E. Kage
Voice Actors: Lydia Kwa, Manami Hara, Cherry Wen Wen Lu, Cindy Mochizuki, Donna Soares, and Minoru Yamamoto

Namahage Demons in Snow: Lexi Vajda, Sophia Wolfe, Donna Soares, Manami Hara, and June Fukumura
Performers in Snow:  June Fukumura, Junko Takashima, Julia Aoki, Oomi Sugawara, and Saya de Couto-Hoffman
Live Performance: Aretha Aoki Shion Carter, June Fukumura, Makiko Hara, Linda Hoffman, Cindy Mochizuki, and Sophia Wolfe.

Cave to Dream was created with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the British Columbia Arts Council.