The diploma project, created in the Costume Design Studio under the supervision of Professor Dorota Kołodyńska, is a contemporary stage interpretation of one of the oldest Japanese stories known as "Taketori monogatari", or "The Tale of the Bamboo Gatherer".
It is the story of a Moon Princess named Kaguya who is sent down to Earth and found in a bamboo shoot as a tiny baby by an old forager. The latter, together with his wife, raises the baby as his own daughter, and in the meantime becomes miraculously rich, thanks to which he moves with his family to a big city to provide his daughter with a life worthy of a real princess. When Kaguya comes of age, news of her beauty reaches the highest men in the country, including the emperor himself. The girl does not give up her hand to any of them, feeling the falsehood and shallowness of their intentions, but they begin to exchange letters with the emperor, which creates a friendly bond. Soon, messengers from the Moon come for the Princess and she is forced to leave Earth with them, despite great sadness.
I decided to tell the story of Kagua from a realistic perspective and focus on the problems that young women struggle with in the patriarchal system. As a result, the project took on – above all else – a personal dimension. Moreover, the issues that interested me were the issue of shaping one's own identity and finding one's place in the world. Both threads are extremely important in feminist discourse, and the reference to one of the oldest texts in Japanese culture emphasizes the universality of the problem and its deep roots.
I started the process of experimenting with form, which involved pressing the plexiglass with black paint on various fabrics and observing how they behaved under the pressure of the block. It consumed me creatively and emotionally. What was particularly attractive about it was the fact that it was impossible to control it completely or repeat the resulting effect. Sometimes this led to disappointments, but these in turn often opened up new, completely unforeseen opportunities.
These activities have a metaphorical dimension in the context of the story I am telling. They symbolize the framework and limitations in which the characters live. However, the sampler created in the process also has a purely artistic expression, because the resulting forms can be not only the basis for costumes but also stand-alone graphics or an artistic installation. The very process of imprinting paint on fabric has a performative potential.
The stage space is also based on an attempt to convey the oppressive situation as a result of the restriction of freedom with artificial patterns and an excess of rules.
I decided to use the motive of a zen garden, which is characterized by a perfectly precise composition, purity, and harmony, which, however, minimizes the freedom to move around it. So I also marked limited paths myself, creating a geometric structure of varnished wood on which the actors could move, and I filled the spaces between the paths with white, decoratively raked sand. This emphasizes the dominance of the designed order and order over the freedom of being. Man serves the rules, not rules serve man.
Thank you very much for your attention! Arigatou! :)
I hope you like this project.
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All the best!
