Centring around a tall forest tree, Katsushiko Azuma’s Small Festival is a site-specific assemblage work that uses both cut and natural wood. Colourful textiles are wrapped around small sections of the piece. Assembled together, each detail becomes a part of the next. Small Festival builds into the form of a sun. Tradition states that Japan was the first place in the world where people could see the sun rising. The Japanese empire was purportedly founded in 660 BC by Jimmu, a descendent of the sun goddess. The main support for this sun is the tree… the tree, producer of oxygen we need to preserve and maintain life, is a guardian and a support for human life as well. The presence and the essence of Azuma’s small festival is its sense of celebration of all things, man-made and natural… Arranged around the piece are plants, and a range of small gifts to this phenomenon in nature. The message is that festivals are happening all the time - invisibly - in microcosm and macrocosm in the ecological cycle of life.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　John K. Grande’