Introduction
Satoyama Storehouse is an art project Vivian Reiss created for the prestigious Echigo-Tsumari Triennial, the largest international art exhibition in Japan. The project consists of a series of intensely personal paintings of the inhabitants of Hachi, a small rice-farming village in the mountains of Japan which is slowly shrinking as farming loses its prestige in Japanese society.
To create the artwork, Reiss lived in the village for three months, visiting rice fields, homes, kimono factories, and shrines, coming to deeply experience the culture and soul of her subjects, which she portrayed in her portraits.
During the Triennial, the work was exhibited in the village’s abandoned schoolhouse, where it was viewed by more than 300,000 people.
To create the artwork, Reiss lived in the village for three months, visiting rice fields, homes, kimono factories, and shrines, coming to deeply experience the culture and soul of her subjects, which she portrayed in her portraits. As one of her models commented, “I thought you were only going to paint a picture, I didn’t realize you wanted to know the person.”
The project had a deep impact on Reiss and on the village, rejuvenating the spirit through artistic endeavor.
Download Brochure
See the portraits along with a quote from each model in the brochure from the Trienniale:
Brochure side 1 | Brochure side 2