The Phone of The Wind
After the loss of my sister back in 2018 I spent many many hours developing ideas for a series of art installations with the intention of inviting the viewer into a multi sensory experience of the emotional rollercoaster of grief. Many of my ideas were complicated, layered and required an awful lot of development, but one really stood out to me. My intention was to create a space in which we could talk to those who are no longer here, designed as a safe and sound proof environment, almost like a confessional booth, but as the only person in the room, you would have the chance to verbalise, converse, listen and wait. Perhaps participants would believe that they could be heard by those who have departed this life, perhaps it was more about the letting go, the catharsis of opening one’s mouth and verbalising all that felt trapped inside. It was a space that one would be able to ask questions and consider what the answer might be.
Well. Like all the best ideas, it’s already been done, and achieved in it’s beauty and simplicity in Japan by Itaru Sasaki, a man who utilised an old phone box to invite people to speak to those they had lost after the 2011 earthquake.
“People who are grieving can close their hearts and shut themselves off from the world – not seeing anyone or talking to anyone, not leaving the house. They end up in a state where they lose all motivation to do anything,” Sasaki says. “But by opening the door just a little, in doing something as small as going to visit the Phone of the Wind, they connect with the impetus to move from doing nothing to doing something to recover from grief.”
His original ‘Wind Phone’ has welcomed over 50,000 visitors and pilgrims, and has been duplicated with over 350 now existing all over the world.
“Compared to the eternity after death, life is unquestionably brief. It is therefore of great significance that we not only maintain a kizuna – a bond with others – while we are alive, but also an enduring connection even after we die.”
More often than not, discovering that someone has beaten you to what you initially thought was a truly unique idea can be disheartening, but in the this case, Sasaki’s version feels so perfect it cannot be improved upon. It also saves me having to go to all the effort of making my version!
You can read the recent feature in the newly presented Observer here
This article is taken from my May Mailout which also features some of my latest news and cultural highlights.
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