When my daughter Carmen was a small child, we sometimes entered tumbling kaleidoscopic bouts of laughter that transported us to a parallel dimension.
Around this time, when taking our dog Rita for a walk, I encountered a similar phenomenon. Like most Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Rita loves to sink her teeth into a sturdy stick and challenge you to prize it from her jaws.
Instead of the usual game, I picked up her stick by both ends and whirled her around. The grip of her jaws was so firm that she was able to hang onto the stick by her teeth as she flew through the air. We entered that same parallel whirling dimension.
Recently, my partner Kaori and I picked up different leaflets for each other in the foyer of the South London Art Gallery. We simultaneously attempted to place them inside each other’s backpack - causing us to spin around each other in unison.
Momentarily, I found myself back inside that ecstatic tumbling dimension characterized by whirling motion that somehow precipitates spiritual flight.
This sequence of images entitled “Okurimono” is loosely based on these moments of spontaneous elation in which generosity in motion precipitates exultation / infinite potentiality / emptiness.
Okurimono is Japanese for “Gifts”.
Okurimono is a collaboration between Cinematographer
Gerry McCulloch and Artist Miriam Mackormack.
