Natsuki Hanyu

I am a Textile Monster based in London and Tokyo. The monster is a storyteller sharing a sense of value through a spiritual atmosphere without relying on language.

I previously studied fashion at Joshibi University in Japan. Since I have a background in fashion, my deep interest in the body remains unchanged, and all of my spiritual works are made for a body. Body-movements animate my textiles, and my poetic textile has the power to redefine the beauty of the body. These ambiguous full-body costumes are designed to resonate with the movement of the wearer, and I use performance to explore the interactive relationship between body, movement and environment.

Award: Textile Society Student Postgraduate Award 2021.

RE-ANIMATE // KAMI

The word ‘sustainability’ became cheap and a thoughtless trend. Many people still think of human beings and nature separately and try to control the natural world. However, we are one of species on the earth in the first place, and our bodies will eventually return to the ground. In this way, we must not forget that we are part of the natural world, and we must respect other species.

Japanese people used to believe that spirits exist everywhere in even non-human entities like trees, insects, objects, natural phenomena…..they showed their respects to other things. Animistic ideas were deeply rooted within their way of thinking.

However, people in the current generation do not believe this, but I want to Re-animate these thoughts and share it through my performance-textiles by using white KIMI (paper) which is believed to have the power of purification. The performance which has a hint of a ritual dance called Henbai was delivered by three Spirits in an urban area. These spiritual creatures purify the ground with this historical dance and try to plant a seed for the Animistic idea. I hope this project makes people realise we are part of the natural world.

Despite emerging from Japan, the Textile Monster is a shape-shifter that moves through different cultural contexts and environments seeking common traditions of spiritual connection to the natural world.

Sponsor: CURETEX