Arctic Gyotaku
Komafest, Vardø
Gyotaku, the old Asian art of fish printing: before cameras, fishermen used ink and paper to prove a fish had existed.
The plan was leaf printing, until we discovered that the Arctic has no leaves in winter. So we improvised with the one thing Vardø never runs out of: mackerel. Then came the second surprise. Norwegian mackerel is silk-smooth, with barely a scale to be found. The workbench was built from supermarket cardboard. Children aged two to six inked the fish, pressed the paper and peeled it back, and every reveal drew a gasp. What they printed was, quietly, climate evidence. Mackerel never used to live in Arctic waters; warming seas pushed them into the Barents. The prints now hang in Vardø's community house: Arctic children, using an Asian technique, printing a sea that is changing.
“Wait — Norwegian mackerel has no scales?”
2024.10
In collaboration with KOMAFETS / MIMI CHANG