OF STARS, STELES, AND TERRITORY

2025

Of Stars, Steles, and Territory explores what persists beyond the visible in sites marked by mass death, drawing on the ancient Greek concept of catasterism, the transformation of beings into stars and constellations after death. The project seeks to reveal the unseen presences that inhabit Okinawa, a Japanese island bearing the weight of traumatic Second World War history.

In February 2025, upon arriving on the island, I was struck by an immediate, unsettling sense of density. Layers of memories seemed to inhabit the island, pervaded by subtle presences. This sensation raised a central question: how does a territory's traumatic history inscribe itself in space and persist beyond time and the observable ?

Okinawa's complex history provides context for this intuition. After four and a half centuries of autonomy under the Ryukyu Kingdom, the island was annexed by Japan in 1879, and forced assimilation policies were imposed. The 1945 Battle of Okinawa claimed over 200,000 lives, including 100,000 civilians. Today, militarization remains deeply rooted, with 32 U.S. bases and 47,000 soldiers sustaining ongoing tensions with the local population.

This project is about deep attunement with our environment and how places can be felt. It addresses how emotions, memories, history, and sensory experiences shape our perception of space beyond its material properties.

In a world where conflicts are escalating, it aims to create a space for reflection on the possible transformation of collective trauma. The history and memories of Okinawa serve as a starting point for questioning the logic of war and its invisible repercussions.