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travelogue
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leonhard bartolomeus



How to Learn to Live with Termites?

Leonhard Bartolomeus
 September 2024







Last September, I received an invitation from an old friend, James Jack (affectionately known as JJ), to visit his studio on Shodoshima Island. Shodoshima is the second largest island in the Seto Inland Sea region, which is nationally recognised as the only olive-growing area in Japan. The visit was not the first time I had set foot on this island of approximately 30,000 people. In 2019, I visited in order to see the Setouchi Triennale exhibition. But then I didn't have much time to look around thoroughly - my activities were limited to visiting exhibition sites, so I wasn't interested in visiting again. It's not too far from where I live in Yamaguchi. However, due to the limited public transportation between the two cities, it took me about 4 hours to reach Tonosho Port. The condition made it quite difficult for me to find the right time to come and stay there for a few days.

JJ and I have known each other for a long time, since 2016, because we have shared friends. I had helped JJ make an exhibition presentation in Jakarta, but unfortunately, we cancelled the project due to funding and time constraints. A few years later, when I moved to Yamaguchi, JJ contacted me several times to meet again. Still, after COVID-19 broke out and travel restrictions took effect nationwide, I could not visit Shodoshima.

JJ's offer came again via text message in early May 2024. He told me about his activities in Shodoshima since 2010  and how he hoped to continue developing the lumbung two spirit  (JJ with Donkey Mill Art Center was among the artists who participated in programs at ruruHaus as part of Composting Knowledge during lumbung documenta fifteen). JJ then asked if I would like to see his activities organised by  Termites studio while staying for two nights there.

During my visit, there was a joint exhibition  JJ was working on with Termites studio and waseda eco art studio. So, while visiting the island, JJ asked me to check out the exhibition and have a discussion with his students, giving some feedback and talking about the background of the works they were making. At the end of the message, he also told me that he would take me on a sailing boat in  the Seto Inland Sea.

I'm interested in learning more about the termites studio because I'm working on a small research project about community-based art practices in Japan. I imagine the termites studio could be one of the references I share with my fellow researchers.





September may not be the ideal time to visit the islands of Japan. The warm and humid summer temperatures can be overwhelming. However, as a “former” Southeast Asian, I know this weather is no big deal. The first day I arrived on the island, at noon, I was greeted by JJ and his friend Elica Masuya (an artist/researcher in residency at termites studio) we chatted about the project they were working on together while enjoying a fresh cold somen. Besides being known as an olive producer, the island of Shodoshima is one of three places in Japan famous for somen noodles, and the island has more than 400 years of experience. Production flourished through the bustling maritime trade that made ingredients readily available and the nearby abundance of salt and water to make the noodles. Interestingly, the usual somen dipping sauce is just dashi and shoyu, this time combined with garlic-infused olive oil. The flavour becomes similar to pasta.




After lunch, I was taken to see the exhibition venue for Symbiosis Symbiont Synthesis - which turned out to be the former ferry ticketing centre and currently information centre at Tonosho Port. The building looks relatively “new” with its basic circular architectural form. JJ told me that the building is currently seeking a new function as an art appreciation space and gathering point for the community. Inside the building, waseda eco art studio organized the exhibition inviting other artists from Hiroshima, Chiba and Singapore along with JJ’s students. On the ground floor, a fairly large sail from a fifty-year old sailboat that has fallen out of use, perhaps five meters wide, is the main installation. If you look closely, there are traces of stitching that form unfinished letters (and possibly words or sentences). JJ told me that it was a collaborative work with a friend Taro Furukata who hand dyed the silk threads while living in Germany. There were several different threads  used to form the letters u-p-c-y-c-l-i-n-g  on the sail, and although they were earth tones  the color intensity of each thread  looked different. I later learned that they were all colored with natural dyes including purple cabbage, walnut, onion, avocado and other household food scraps.




On the second floor, the atmosphere of the group exhibition was more pronounced, and there were several works I could appreciate. An archival installation from Termites studio in the center of the room, on the left side, Elica Masuya, displays a video installation using a simple tent that uses three pieces of bamboo  as a support. The video shows herself  paddling a canoe around the Mito Penninsula of Shodoshima in 2013. In the other parts of the room were works by students Meika Mizuno, Ruoxi Chen, Ricardo Lu, Kanae Hatano, Ikuto Shiosaka and Jingtong Wu. I was quite surprised when I talked to them and heard that for many of them this was their first attempt showing  art in public. Honestly, the works they displayed had a decent conceptual and visual weight to them. I then gave them some practical advice that had more to do with the presentation of the work. I didn't want to talk too much and give advice on their process. I think it's important to give them space to explore and make mistakes as a learning process. My only regret is that my Japanese skills are still very basic, so I can't speak fluently with them. We then ended the day by briefly driving around parts of Shodoshima in JJ's tiny electric car. My final ride of the day was to Termites studio.




While explaining the essential functions of my residency house attached to a former somen noodle factory, JJ shared the ideas behind the project. According to him, Termites studio is an artistic endeavour exploring the interconnectedness between humans and more than humans, primarily through termite behaviour and their symbiotic relationship with their environment.  The studio is founded and run by artists James Jack and Masashi Echigo in collaboration with islanders  from various fields, including Sanae Imagawa (Cosmic Organic Farm), Shūho Jishi (Seikenji Children's Center), Michael Yada (Deconstruction company), Asuka Sarai (Sailor/Olive Island Yacht Club) and Shintarō Miyawaki (Photographer/Thoreau Café). The Termites studio aims to promote understanding and appreciation of ecological processes by drawing inspiration from termite colonies and their symbiotic relationship with microbes that help them digest wood. When I visited, JJ said there were already several programs going on there, some of which included workshops on studying termites and making miso fermentation, and a program inviting children around the studio to decorate a small multifunctional yatai cart.




On the second day, JJ informed us that our sailing plans had to be delayed  due to bad weather - indeed, the wind was extreme. So we changed our plans to have a BBQ party in the evening with some friends. JJ then took me on a tour of some interesting places around Shodoshima. He told me how Shodoshima is very popular as a tourist area, partly because of the famous movie “Twenty-Four Eyes” based on a novel by local author Sakae Tsuboi, which tells the story of the struggle to live and find peace before, during and after the war. It was information like this that increased my curiosity about Shodoshima.

However, Shodoshima is inevitably suffering from one of the major problems Japan is facing, depopulation. Tourism is certainly different from residents, and there would certainly be a different attitude towards Shodoshima if I lived there. JJ's efforts with the community in Shodoshima are an interesting example of how small projects rooted in local values can be a tool to build sustainability in a community. Termites studio reminds me of ruangrupa's collective work model from 2000 to 2015 that utilized residential houses and transformed them into public spaces. While JJ used termites as his inspiration, ruangrupa used bees as their model. Both work collectively to build a sustainable ecosystem.



This practice of community building through creative endeavors must, of course, be done slowly and over a long period of time. It would be unfair to compare it to a tourism project, merely inviting visitor value and creating momentary economic fluctuations. I imagine that like a swarm of termites, the work done by JJ and friends through Termites studio can slowly change the social structure in Shodoshima.

As the Indonesian saying goes, “little by little becomes a hill.”