Measuring Histories

 
 

For this project, I used a pen and cardboard. I measured the distance from Fairfax, VA, to Tsukishima, Tokyo, Japan, where I currently live. It measured to be about 6770 miles. I wrote/condensed my testimony to around 3170 words and then wrote a Japanese translation to around 3600 characters to sum up to the 6700. I measured my history through the laborious work of writing each word and character, and many emotions were evoked through this process that took around 7-8 hours, on top of the time spent writing/translating my testimony. Through the act of writing itself, I re-visited memories from my childhood where my hand was aching due to intense practice and long writing that my parents/school made me do. The short sayings that are at the bottom of the piece were significant, because I remember doing calligraphy for each character multiple times before performing on the "real deal" throughout my local Japanese elementary education. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down", especially resonated with me for both positive and negative reasons. Being a foreigner as a young child and having trouble learning how to be an effective communicator, learner, and much more during those early years always made me stick out. It was hard, but at the same time, the sayings of never lose hope, keep pushing, always get back up, were always in the back of my mind. All this to say, this project was definitely one that connected me to past memories that, in some ways, were lost, but coming back to them was pleasant. I really enjoyed the work, although it was pretty taxing both emotionally and spiritually.