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In 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry and his steam-powered "black ships' arrived in Japan, just outside of Yokohama. Perry came to force Japan to open itself to international trade, coming back again in 1854 to get an agreement in writing. Yokohama officially opened as an international port and US diplomatic center in 1859, ending a 200-year long isolation imposed by the Japanese shogunate, thus last year Yokohama had its 150th anniversary.
An odd but celebrated history in cross-cultural exchange and East/West relations, the image of the black ships is enduring through the city today, as are other ships as well considering the city's status as a port as well as once very important ship-building center. The BankART studios are themselves located a former warehouse of Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) shipping company, which is still going strong.
I worked on a set of collages using brochures from the information desk at Yokohama station as well as local flyers and a European fashion magazine called "Wad" left in the apartment by a Finnish artist former occupant. They utilize local maps, local sites in some, while referencing Perry's black ships in others through the lens of fashion forms, which seemed to be one of the main points of note by Japanese artists depicting Westerners in ukiyo-e prints known as "Yokohama-e".
