Add Architecture, Stir Memory: Japan

In Add Architecture, Stir Memory: Japan Shay Youngblood explores, early memories of home, enduring friendship, loss and survival as seen through the lens of her visit to Japan and experience of 3/11, the 9.0 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear tragedy, ten days after her arrival in Tokyo from Texas. Fact and fiction, poetry and music, mix and mingle in interviews and narrative stories. The live performance work incorporates soundscapes, architectural drawings, animation and video.

As a teenager living in Hawaii I was introduced to Japanese culture, language and food as a volunteer in a hospital working with Japanese patients who had not been home in many years. In 2011 I was selected as Japan U.S Friendship Commission Artist Fellow. During a residency in Japan, I interviewed architects (Kengo Kuma, Fumihiko Maki, Itsuko Hasegawa), designers (Kashiwa Sato, Kazuko Koike), curators and other Japanese creatives about their early memories of home. I was inspired by my conversations with them and deeply affected by the aftershocks of the earthquake, which resulted in an unexpected, new direction in my work.