The Tale of Flowering Fortunes is an eleventh-century chronicle celebrating the Fujiwara clan, whose name is related to the Wisteria(fuji). At the centre of this painting, the flower appears almost like a small sun, while birds circle around it.

Some are unmistakably Japanese. Others are not. A pond heron, a mandarin duck, a red avadavat who are distinctly Asian but have established in different places, and a barn swallow that refuses to recognise borders. Together they ask a question that became important to me while staying here.

When does something become part of a place?

Is it a matter of origin? Of time? Of affection? Of repetition?

Japan is often imagined as culturally and biologically distinct, yet its landscapes, like every landscape, especially Ports, have been shaped by arrivals. Plants, birds, beliefs, objects and people have crossed seas for centuries, becoming so familiar that we forget they were ever newcomers.

Some birds return every year. Others settle somewhere entirely new. Some are hyper local, others live basically anywhere. Watching them has made me realise that I still don’t know where I belong. Perhaps that’s why I keep painting them.

Oil and acrylic on linen
120×90 cm