Information, News, Current Project

Collective Cares: Relational #001 – Lifang Zhang

Collective Cares: Relational #001 – Lifang Zhang

First reflection for the new Relational series of Collective Cares. Naoko Mabon met Lifang Zhang, curator, researcher and one of the Collective Cares peers, to ask to share her seven years plus of experience in learning contemporary art on the African continent. Through the conversation, they touched upon: how we perceive ourselves and others; the realisation of “we are foreign everywhere” can liberate us from alienation; accepting uncertainty and allowing time to lead the way can be key for building long-term relationship and collaborations, and so on. Please click here to read the full reflection.

After curating Martin Abasi Phiri (MAP)’s retrospective exhibition at Lusaka Contemporary Art Center (LuCAC) and the Zambia National Visual Arts Council (VAC) in 2024/5 based on her long-term research since 2018, Lifang brought the exhibition to MAP’s ancestral home Chipata in Eastern Province. The exhibition is currently on view at Martin Phiri Gallery Chipata until 6th October 2026.

Relational is a series of reflections that emphasises the process of knowledge production. Rather than seeing knowledge as a mere achievement or result of individual/independent action, this series sees it forming as an almost living orgasm based on relationships, interactions, experiences, and the socio-cultural environment in which it is situated.

Image credit: Alex S

Current Project, Information, News

Collective Cares Website Launch

www.collectivecares-zm.net

We are thrilled to launch Collective Cares’ website on this day of solstice. It is when the energy on our planet shifts between regeneration and renewal (winter, southern hemisphere) and celebration and gathering (summer, northern hemisphere). Just like this astronomical cycle, this website is also living – meaning that it shifts as it grows, in response to the experience shared, knowledge produced and relationships nurtured. (Reference: “The Ancient African Science of Winter” by AFROSAVVY)

Please do visit and enjoy browsing, and grow with us.

Collective Cares is a peer-led curatorial initiative for contemporary arts in Zambia. Zambia’s artistic landscape is rich in expressions but lacks visibility, infrastructure, and support. To improve this, we are creating a hybrid physical/digital space for conversation, research, and collaboration. Framing curation as a practice of care, we root ourselves in solidarity over competition.

Collective Cares would like to thank everyone who has supported us so far, and donated our initial crowdfunding campaign. We are grateful for raising GBP £473.32, which is not huge but enabled us to kick things off, including the monthly Studio Visit series and the website building. Long-term sustainability is still a challenge, but we’re starting small and intentional. Thank you very much!

Current Project, Information, News

Recordings of “Conversations With Artists” Series of EcoCreative Cluster

Established in 2020, EcoCreative Cluster has been focusing on natural dyes, pigments and the use of natural materials in creative practices. Grounded in the creation and ongoing cultivation of a community dye garden at The Rockfield Centre in Oban, it provides workshops and learning opportunities for the local community, led by textile artist Deborah Gray and invited tutors. The project also has an international network weaving dimension led by curator Naoko Mabon, including collaborations and online conversation series with practitioners across the world.

While deeply rooted in Oban, the Conversations With Artists series has been weaving a wider network of practitioners through holding a space for intercultural exchanges and critical discussions. To date, we have invited 17 artists/groups from 14 locations across the globe, all of whom engage with nature-based local materials and/or natural dye techniques in their practices. Not only producing fascinating dyes and dyed works, invited practitioners are using the creative process of natural dyeing to address local or broader issues, leading to a meaningful social change.

Season 1 (2021) Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/r4u89yxn
・Deborah Gray (Oban, Scotland)
・Monica Haddock (Isle of Mull, Scotland)
・Fernanda Mascarenhas (São Paulo, Brazil)
・Nanako Suzuki (Yubari, Japan)
・Boubacar Doumbia (Ségou, Mali)
*There was a dye garden planning session (private event) and an artist’s talk (public event) led by Lucille Junkere also carried out during the first season of the project, but no recordings are available for those events.

Season 2 (2022) Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/bdhk84y
・Thomas Keyes (Cromarty, Scotland)
・Jessica Giannotti (Oban, Scotland)
・Susan Martin (Pembrokeshire, Wales)
・Living Blue (Rangpur, Bangladesh)
・Firew Konjo (Arba Minch, Ethiopia)
・Katie West (Noongar Ballardong country)

Season 3 (2024) Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/5xd96vvw
・Lyndsey McDougall (Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland)
・Rosalinda Tay (San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala)

Season 4 (2026) Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/ycxenkk5
・Timothy Siachibuye from Twaabane Creative Centre & Banji Chona and her youth- and women-led initiative Inkaya Studio (Zambia)
・Trees4Trees & Sodiqin (Kampung Laut, Indonesia)

Special thanks to those who have supported this online series:
Kase Juliana; Gil Gosch; Shimizusawa Project; Tiécoura N’Daou; Cheick Hamala Toure; Sahelien; Hannah Gray; Francesca Zappia; Leslie Mabon; CHARTS; Carol Alison Smith; Actuality Abroad; and Gladhys Elliona.

Event, Information, News

Collective Cares: Conversation #003

Collective Cares: Conversation #003
Friday 3rd July
3:00-3:30pm (Central Africa Time)
Instagram Live @collectivecares_zm / @mwabzzz

Join us for the third conversation of Collective Cares. Co-leads Luyando and Naoko Mabon will meet Lusaka-based artist Mwaba Chandia. The conversation will activate Naoko’s Studio Visit with Mwaba, exploring Mwaba’s two recent pieces informed by materials from the natural surroundings of the artist, including seedpods and sheaths of trees.

In Collective Cares, we have been trying to create a hybrid – physical and digital – space for conversation, research, and collaboration. Instagram Live is one platform to test and nurture.

You can watch the recordings of previous conversations on Collective Cares’ YouTube channel.

Uncategorized

Online Live Event “Witnessing Change: Nepal’s Gen Z Through Photography and Collective Voices”

An international group of artists, photographers, curators, and writers from Nepal, Japan, Canada, and Scotland will come together online on Friday, June 26, 2026 for Witnessing Change: Nepal’s Gen Z Through Photography and Collective Voices, a live Zoom event exploring Nepal’s recent Gen Z-led social transformation through photography, testimony, and collaborative dialogue.

Friday 26th June 2026

Japan: 22:00
Nepal: 18:45
Scotland: 14:00
Canada: 07:00 (CST)

Book a ticket here.

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Current Project, Information, News

Collective Cares: Studio Visit #004 – Mwaba Chandia

Collective Cares: Studio Visit #004 – Mwaba Chandia

For the 4th studio visit of Collective Cares, Naoko virtually visited Lusaka-based artist Mwaba Chandia. The conversation focused on Mwaba’s two recent pieces, which were informed by materials from the natural surroundings of the artist, including seedpods and sheaths of trees. Please click here to read Naoko’s reflection.

As they exchanged, the conversation touched and critically explored: relationship with materials beyond authority and control; politics of display and representation; and the challenges around traditional crafts.

Studio Visit is a series of reflections to encounters and conversations with artists/practitioners in Zambia, organised by Collective Cares. This is, however, not a series of mere recordings or documentations of visits. Through creating a critical response to the encounters or conversations, the series explores a way of working or thinking together that values relationship over extraction, conversation over interview, and care over capture. Studio Visit is a cultivation of conditions under which thinking can happen, knowledge can be shared, and solidarity can grow.

Image credit © Mwaba Chandia

Event, Information, News

SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty

“SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty – the right to participate in a cultural life” will be held 10am-4pm at The Briggait in Glasgow.

Naoko will be facilitating the “Highland place-making” table in the Roundtable session on behalf of SCAN’s Highland Member Development Lead Emma Gibson, as one of the practitioners working in the region as well as a SCAN board member.

“SCAN’s flagship conference Summit comes to Glasgow this year, with a focus on human rights and the arts. SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty is held ahead of a new Human Rights Bill, due to be advanced in Scottish Parliament in May 2026. If the bill is enshrined into Scots Law, the rights of all people in Scotland to participate in a cultural life will become enforceable. At SCAN Summit 2026: Take Liberty, invited artists, academics, lawmakers and cultural workers from across disciplines will look at this new legislation and our intersecting human rights. A series of talks, activities and provocations will consider the implications of embedding the proposed new legal framework, and what it will mean for both contemporary art practice and civic life.”

Event, News

Tataki-zome Workshop in Tiree

Naoko Mabon is running a tataki-zome (pounding dyeing) workshop in Tiree at Tiree Makery. Saturday 6th June, 10.30am-12.00pm. Book a place here.

A family friendly hands-on workshop exploring, a simple natural dyeing method in which colours from plants are transferred directly onto fabric through pounding.

Using locally gathered plants, participants will explore Tiree’s unique ecosystem and landscape while reflecting on ideas of impermanence, biodiversity and our changing environment.

The workshop invites participants to notice the beauty and fragility of local plant life — including species often dismissed as weeds, nuisances or invasive plants — and to consider how seasonal and climatic changes affect the colours and materials nature provides.

Event, Information, News

Collective Cares: Conversation #002

Collective Cares: Conversation #002
Sunday 31st May
3-5pm (Central African Time)
Instagram Live @collectivecares_zm

Join us for the second conversation event of Collective Cares, a new peer-led curatorial initiative for contemporary arts in Zambia. In this event, Collective Cares co-leads Luyando Muleya and Naoko Mabon will meet Livingstone-based artist Mutemwa Mukelebai. We will activate the latest Studio Visit to Ba Mutemwa made by Luyando, and discuss our reflections.

In Collective Cares, we have been trying to create a hybrid – physical and digital – space for conversation, research, and collaboration. Instagram Live is one platform to test and nurture – like Ba Mutemwa’s ’ikasuwa’ microscope that he constructed using discarded pipe and old television screen, we use what we have and see where we could go based on such basic conditions.

Event, Information, News, Project

EcoCreative Cluster: Conversation with Trees4Trees & Sodiqin from Indonesia

Join us for an online conversation event with two groups from Indonesia, whose collaborative partnership intersects environmental activism and natural dyeing, through mangrove: Trees4Trees and Sodiqin.

Trees4Trees is a non-profit foundation that focuses on renewing the environment and empowering local communities through planting trees and education. Sodiqin is a batik artist and a natural dyer based in Kampung Laut, who also leads the Mekar Canting Batik Group, a collective composed mostly of women. They will talk about their practices, centring the recent collaboration with each other involving mangrove conservation and batik making using mangrove dye in Kampung Laut village in the Cilacap Regency of the southwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia.

Sunday 17 May 2026
11:00-12:15 (UK Time), 17:00-18:15 (Jakarta / Western Indonesian Time)
Free, all welcome
Book your place via Eventbrite page here

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Current Project, Information, News

Collective Cares: Studio Visit #002 – Loliwe Phiri

Collective Cares: Studio Visit #002 – Loliwe Phiri

For the second studio visit of Collective Cares, Naoko Mabon visited Loliwe Phiri, an artist who specialises in humanitarian photography, to speak about Loliwe’s practice. Click here to read Naoko’s response to her visit and conversation with Loliwe in a form of short writing titled “Desire For Impact, Desire For Positive Change – Loliwe Phiri On Visual-storytelling”.

Loliwe Phiri is an artist who specialises in humanitarian photography. Based in Lusaka, Zambia. She often works in the fields across different communities in Zambia and beyond, capturing images that tell stories of the humanitarian efforts of international NGOs and local organisations who are making a positive impact to those communities or wider society.

Studio Visit is a series of commissioned responses to encounters and conversations with artists/practitioners in Zambia, organised by Collective Cares. This is, however, not a series of mere recordings or documentations of visits. Through creating a critical response to the encounters or conversations, the series explores a way of working or thinking together that values relationship over extraction, conversation over interview, and care over capture. Studio Visit is a cultivation of conditions under which thinking can happen, knowledge can be shared, and solidarity can grow.

Image credit:
Captured on 17th February, 2025 in Western Province, Zambia on the Zambezi River Plains during a story gathering assignment. © Loliwe Photography

Event, Information, News, Project

EcoCreative Cluster: Conversation with Timothy Siachibuye & Banji Chona

*You can now watch the recording of this event on YouTube channel here.

Join us for an online talk to meet two experts from Zambia, whose collaborative practice involves natural dyeing: Timothy Siachibuye at Twaabane Creative Centre; and Banji Chona and her youth- and women-led initiative Inkaya Studio.

Thursday 5 February 2026
6-7pm (GTM UK time), 8-9pm (GMT+2 Central Africa Time)
Free, all welcome
Book your place via Eventbrite page here

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Current Project, Information, News, Project, Proposal

FUNDRAISER: Collective Cares – New Peer-led Curatorial Initiative for Contemporary Arts in Zambia

FUNDRAISER: Support Collective Cares, a new peer-led curatorial initiative for contemporary arts in Zambia.

WHY IT’S NEEDED

Zambia’s artistic landscape is rich in expressions but lacks visibility, infrastructure and support. Practitioners have few chances to present their works, no shared platform or advocacy for fair/sustainable practice, and limited paid opportunities. Funding is often short-term or foreign-dependent, while curatorial education and critical discourse remain minimal. To improve this, we’re creating a hybrid (physical/digital) space for conversation, research and collaboration. We grow slowly, believing that an intimate approach with mutual care, not speed, creates lasting change. Framing curation as a practice of care, we root ourselves in solidarity and critical friendship over competition and collusion.

WHAT WE DO

Offline: Host conversations, studio visits, writings and experimental collaborations among curators and artists.

Online: Create a living platform where peers share research, archives and curated features. Artists can rent affordable pages to connect, promote, and sell their work/service.

WHO WE ARE

Co-led by Luyando Muleya (Lusaka-born, Livingstone-based); and Naoko Mabon (Japan-born, Scotland-based), with a growing network of peers: Chibuye Changwe (Lusaka-born, Brussels-based); Kabila Stéphane (DR Congo-born, Berlin-based); Lifang Zhang (China-born, Beijing-based); Samba Yonga (Lusaka-born, Lusaka-based); Sana Ginwalla (Lusaka-born, Lusaka-based).

YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS

We need your support to gain self-sustaining momentum. This is a not-for-profit initiative centring on the long-term benefit for the contemporary arts community in Zambia. No big money or institutional backing. Just people—forming and nurturing community, criticality and opportunity from the ground up.

OUR GOAL

GBP £3,200 — this amount allows us to run the first 3 years’ activities to the desired level in a fairer working condition.

Please visit our WhyDonate page for full story & to make donation: https://whydonate.com/fundraising/collective-cares

Thank you very much for your support in advance!
Collective Cares Team

Event, Information, News

Collective Cares: Conversation #001

Online Event
Collective Cares: Conversation #001
Wednesday 10th December
This is an online event on Zoom

Book free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/collective-cares-conversation-001-tickets-1967651768407

3-5pm (Central African Time)
2-4pm (Central Europe Time)
1-3pm (GMT)
9-11pm (China Standard Time)

Join us for a virtual gathering to mark the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for our new curatorial initiative for contemporary arts in Zambia: Collective Cares. We will share and discuss why we believe creating such a space is needed, and what we are planning in this peer-led initiative. This is a safe space for open dialogue and community support. Whether you’re looking to listen, learn, or share, everyone is welcome to participate. Let’s come together and start shaping a change!

Do come to say hello to the co-leads, Luyando and Naoko. Our peers may be joining us too. 

To read full story about Collective Cares and to make a donation, please visit our WhyDonate page below:
https://whydonate.com/fundraising/collective-cares

Collective Cares is a not-for-profit initiative centring on the long-term benefit for the contemporary arts community in Zambia. No big money or institutional backing. Just people — forming and nurturing community, criticality and opportunity from the ground up. Join us in shaping an even more mutually caring, connected, critical and sustainable ecosystem for contemporary arts in Zambia.

Exhibition, Information, News

Exhibition of Naturally Dyed and Stitched Works, as part of EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll

Exhibition of Naturally Dyed and Stitched Works
As part of EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll

9-13 December 2025
Oban Library (Reading Room), 77 Albany Street, Oban PA34 4AL
Tue & Wed 9:30am-4.30pm | Thu 9:00am-6.00pm | Fri & Sat 9:30am-1.00pm

Following the stitching workshop and pop-up exhibition at Dunollie Castle in September, this exhibition at Oban Library will showcase some of the stitched works from the workshop inspired by an embroidered indigo-coloured working smock from the Hope MacDougall Collection, as well as naturally dyed samples resulting from the artistic research on historic dye ‘recipes’ in the Dunollie archive, using local plants.

The stitching workshop and exhibitions have been created with support from Oban Common Good Fund.

Information, News

“Synthesis” – New Artist’s Book of Mari Katayama, published by SPBH/MACK

“Synthesis is a striking artist’s book that brings together six years of work by acclaimed Japanese multimedia artist Mari Katayama. ⁠Created between 2019 and 2025 – a period marked by the birth of her daughter and a return to Gunma, the mountainous province where she grew up – the book brings together nine photographic series, including the brand new tree of life, all produced in her home studio. This space becomes both a site of reflection and a stage for transformation. ” (From MACK website)

Feel extremely honoured to be able to be a small part of this deeply exciting book project through translating Mari’s text into English. Book cover image is from MACK website, where a copy can be purchased.

© Mari Katayama. Courtesy of Mari Katayama Studio and Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris.
The work used for the book cover is tree of life #012. This work amongst tree of life #004, tree of life #011, tree of life #012, tree of life #013, tree of life #017, and tree of life #018 were commissioned by the V&A Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project with support from the Parasol Foundation Trust.

Event, Information, News

Stitching Workshop and Exhibition, as part of EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll

Stitching Workshop and Exhibition
As part of EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll

Sunday 21 September 2025
Stitching workshop: 10:30am-1pm.
Exhibition: 10:30am – 4pm.
At Dunollie Museum, Castle & Grounds, Oban PA34 5TT

*Booking essential for stitching workshop from this Eventbrite page, only 15 spaces. Free to attend (with funding support from Oban Common Good Fund).

Based on artistic research focusing on the natural dye and textile collections of Hope MacDougall at Dunollie Castle, Oban-based textile artist Deborah Gray and curator Naoko Mabon will lead this stitching session. Drawing inspiration from an embroidered indigo-coloured working smock from the historic Collection, participants are invited to make stitchings on upcycled fabric.

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Event, Information, News

The Nettle Dress film + live Q&A with Allan Brown

Join us to watch The Nettle Dress (directed by Dylan Howitt, 2023). The Nettle Dress is a remarkable documentary following textile artist, Allan Brown’s 7 year process of making a dress out of locally foraged nettle fibres. Once the film is finished, there will be an in-person Q&A with Allan himself. Not to be missed!

This project has been described as “Hedgerow Couture”, the greenest of slow fashion and also his medicine. It’s how he survives the death of his wife and finds a beautiful way to honour her. A modern day fairytale and hymn to the healing power of nature and slow craft.

Part of the EcoCreative Cluster project and The Rockfield Centre’s Community Film Club.

Saturday 13th September, 6pm
At Oak Studio of The Rockfield Centre, Oban
£5 Film Club Member | £7.50 Standard
Tickets are available to book at https://www.therockfieldcentre.org.uk/screening-the-nettle-dress

Information, News

One-month research residency at Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre

Naoko Mabon conducts an one-month research residency at Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre in Zambia.

Naoko comments: “Since this is my first contact with the African continent, I will try to visit various practitioners or places in this residency to attain a deeper and physical understanding of wider contexts and broaden my network—with a scope for a future collaboration across Zambia, Scotland, and beyond. Funding support from Hope Scott Trust, which made my trip possible. Thank you so much.”

This residency also marks the 10th year of Naoko’s career as a freelance curator—aka WAGON. Massive shout out for every single one of you who have been supporting WAGON to run until this day. Thank you!

To follow Naoko’s activities in Zambia, please check her Instagram.

Uncategorized

EcoCreative Cluster: Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll

This project aims to bring fresh life to historic archives through artistic research focusing on the natural dye and textile collections of Hope MacDougall at Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds in Oban.

This is an international collaboration between Oban-based textile artist Deborah Gray, Irish artist Lyndsey McDougall, and Oban-based Japanese curator Naoko Mabon. It brings full-circle the Oban-Ireland exchange they initiated in 2024 titled Nettle Circle (International), which involved Ireland visit by Deborah and Naoko and exchanging naturally dyed or locally woven materials to make embroidery with participants and share skills/stories of two different yet deeply connected locations.

Re-searching Natural Colours of Argyll is an international part in the 2025 season of EcoCreative Cluster, a project focusing on natural dyes, pigments and the use of natural materials in art and craft, which was initiated in 2021 by The Rockfield Centre in Oban with Deborah and Naoko as co-leads.

More activities to follow – stay tuned!

Exhibition, Information, News

Srija Shrestha: Shapes of Home

We are excited to announce the upcoming exhibition in The Suttie Arts Space by Nepali artist and illustrator, Srija Shrestha. The new work for the exhibition is set to a brief developed by Primary 6 pupils at Cornhill Primary School and co-curated by Naoko Mabon.

To explore a shape of “home” that cares for and can be shared by different people living, working, visiting and studying in the the Cornhill locality and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary campus, Srija used Devanagari script of Nepali language, her mother tongue, as raw material to create a series of concrete poetry.

8th March 2025 – 24th May 2025
The Suttie Arts Space, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen

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Information, News

Article on “Women In Revolt!” for ARTnews JAPAN 「女たちの反乱」展に関する『ARTnews JAPAN』への寄稿

Naoko Mabon contributed an article to ARTnews JAPAN on the exhibition Women In Revolt!: Art, Activism and the Women’s movement in the UK 1970–1990 at Tate Britain in London, based on an interview with the lead curator Linsey Young. To read the article (in Japanese), please click here.

メイボン尚子が『ARTnews JAPAN』にテート・ブリテンで開催の「Women In Revolt!: Art, Activism and the Women’s movement in the UK 1970–1990（反乱する女たち：1970-1990年の英国におけるアート、アクティヴィズム、女性運動）」展について、本展のリード・キュレーター、リンゼイ・ヤング氏に行ったインタビューを下敷きに書いた文章を寄せました。こちらから記事をご覧いただけます。

Event, Information, News

Community Climate Event on Tiree

Naoko will facilitate the Climate Fresk workshop as part of the Community Climate Event on Tiree, organised by the Tiree Community Development Trust. This day-event creates an occasion for a community to consider how climate change might affect Tiree, and what we can do about it. Tiree is the most westerly low-lying island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, the coastline of which has been eroded by storms more frequently in recent years. There will be workshops and a film screening with tea and cake! Saturday 27th April 2024 at Old Steadings, Hynish, Isle of Tiree.

All free but let us know if you are coming as there are limited spaces. Find out more or sign up on the website of Tiree Community Development Trust.

The lovely poster based on her paper illustration is by Oban-based artist Kirsty Currie.

Project

2024 season of EcoCreative Cluster

Start of the new 2024 season of EcoCreative Cluster!

EcoCreative Cluster is a project hosted by The Rockfield Centre, Oban, which focuses on natural dyes, pigments and the use of natural materials in art and craft. Grounded in the creation and ongoing cultivation of a community dye garden, it provides workshops and learning opportunities for the local community, led by textile artist Deborah Gray and invited specialist tutors. The project also has an international network weaving dimension led by curator Naoko Mabon, which includes a series of recorded on-line conversations and collaborations with international artists who use natural dyes in their practice.

We will unveil an exciting series of 2024 EcoCreative Cluster activities in due course. Please follow either (or all!) @deborah.gray7, @naokomabon or #EcoCreativeCluster on Instagram for news and updates.

The 2024 season activity of EcoCreative Cluster is supported by the award received by Oban Communities Trust from The National Lottery Community Fund, which was made possible by National Lottery. Thank you very much!

Exhibition, Information, News, Project

We Move As A Murmuration at Timespan in Helmsdale

Timespan is excited to present the new exhibition We Move As A Murmuration opening on March 23rd 2024. Drawing inspiration from bird flocks to reflect on the entangled relationships between humans and birds, the exhibition proposes approaches of kinship, liberation, and collective care. The exhibition features the work of artists: adrienne maree brown, Chuan Lun Wu, Disarming Design from Palestine, Edwyn Collins, Hanna Tuulikki, J. Drew Lanham, Joan Ross, Khaled Jarrar, Mamadou Tall Diedhiou, Penny Woodley, Petrit Halilaj, Sethembile Msezane, and Un/Nature.

Following the natural movement of murmurations, co-curators Naoko Mabon and Timespan’s director Giulia Gregnanin have developed an exhibition design that in July will “swirl” and transform with new artworks and installation arrangements to bring fresh perspectives to audiences and emphasise the themes of change and movement part of the exhibition.

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Exhibition, Information, News, Project

EcoCreative Cluster: Nettle Circle (International)

We are thrilled to announce a new project EcoCreative Cluster: Nettle Circle (International).

With CHARTS’ Growing Global Networks Micro-Projects award, Naoko is working on a micro exchange with textile artist Deborah Gray, artist Lyndsey McDougall, and community members in Oban, Argyll and in Malin Head, Ireland. Focusing around natural dyeing and nettles, this project involves a Malin Head visit by Naoko and Deborah, embroidery sessions led by Deborah and Lyndsey, material/story exchange between Oban and Malin Head, and a series of public events both in Oban and Malin Head.

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Information, News

#TheNatureKind interview: Where the Leaves Fall

Naoko Mabon’s interview is featured in #TheNatureKind, a series of weekly conversations with nature-lovers who live, create and act for the planet, of Where the Leaves Fall magazine. Where the Leaves Fall is a magazine exploring humankind’s connection with nature through the intersection between social justice and the environment, art, science, culture, philosophy and food.

To read the full interview, please click here.

Event, Information, News

Growing Global Networks Info Webinars | Connect

Naoko Mabon is one of the speakers in the first of the Growing Global Networks Info Webinars series by CHARTS: CONNECT. This online event will present examples of CHARTS members’ working internationally and aims to connect members with opportunities which expand the contexts, communities and markets in which their work resonates.

6-7pm, Wednesday 4 October 2023
To book a ticket, please click here.

Speakers include:
– Norah Campbell, Head of Arts at British Council Scotland
– Naoko Mabon, curator/producer/artist working from Argyll and Bute.
– Rutger Emmelkamp, curator/producer/artist working from Argyll and Bute.

Event, Information, News, Project

The Earth Writes Back: Film, Poetry, Picnic & Bird Walk in Helmsdale

Join us on Saturday 30th from 11am for a day of poetry, film, picnic and coastal bird walk, part of the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival. Hosted by Timespan in Helmsdale. The final activity of the day from 2pm Walk and Talk on Birds with Nina O’Hanlon, a Caithness-based seabird ecologist, is the first research activity of a new birds-derived project We Move As A Murmuration. This is the second part of Coastal Commons: Beyond North Sea Extractivism, a long-term heritage and art programme at Timespan.

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Event, Information, News

TOA Film Club Oban – New Season

TOA Film Club Oban, 6x monthly environmental justice film screenings + discussions (from October 2023 to March 2024) to nurture momentum and empower more actions from Oban towards a fairer and more sustainable world.

At Oban Phoenix Cinema, £3 each, all welcome. Ticket will be available at Oban Phoenix Cinema.

An exciting addition to this season is – there will be a few free pre-film sessions at Oban Youth Cafe for youths (10-24 yo) to chat about film topics over snacks from Go Naked Veg. **No session in October. More details to be announced soon – stay tuned!

Each screening is followed by an approx. 30min informal reflection around the film with Dr Leslie Mabon (Lecturer in Environmental Systems, The Open University).

TOA Film Club Oban is led by WAGON with support from Oban Youth Cafe, Oban Phoenix Cinema, Dr Leslie Mabon and Go Naked Veg. Funded by Oban Common Good Fund. Part of Take One Action Film Festivals’s Film Club program.

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Information, News

Article on the “Relationship between Bushiro Mohri and Kurobe” for Bijutsutecho 『美術手帖』誌への寄稿「生誕100年 毛利武士郎と黒部」展によせて

Installation view from the exhibition Relationship between Bushiro Mohri and Kurobe at Kurobe City Art Museum in Toyama Prefecture. Photo: Ryohei Yanagihara

Naoko Mabon contributed an article to Bijutsutecho magazine (web edition) reporting on the exhibition Relationship between Bushiro Mohri and Kurobe, recently held at Kurobe City Art Museum in Toyama Prefecture. It was an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of the late sculptor.

To read the article (in Japanese), please click here.
(Please note: there is a small membership fee to read the whole article, but there seems to be a two-week trial for the membership.)

メイボン尚子が『美術手帖』（ウェブ版）に、4月半ばから6月末にかけて富山県・ 黒部市美術館で開催された「Kurobe Art Research vol.2 生誕100年 毛利武士郎と黒部」展をレポートする文章を寄せました。こちらから記事をご覧いただけます。（＊有料記事ですが会員2週間お試しもあるようです）

Information, News

“Relationship Between Mohri Bushiro and Kurobe” Exhibition Catalogue 「毛利武士郎と黒部」展覧会図録


The exhibition catalogue of the “Relationship Between Mohri Bushiro and Kurobe” show has been published by the Kurobe City Art Museum. The exhibition was co-organised with the Coelacanth – Bushiro Mohri Memorial Museum. As well as the installation views of the exhibitions and texts by the exhibition curator Chikako Shakudo tracing the trajectory of how Mohri’s work had been developed in each era, it importantly contains the most updated lists of works, bibliography and biography of the sculptor. The catalogue also features a new essay written by Naoko Mabon, Mohri Bushiro researcher. To purchase a copy, please visit Kurobe City Art Museum’s website. (Please note: the catalogue is written only in Japanese.)

「毛利武士郎と黒部」展の図録が黒部市美術館より出版されました。本展は「シーラカンス 毛利武士郎記念館」との共催による展覧会。展示風景や、本展企画担当の尺戸智佳子（黒部市美術館学芸員）による各時代ごとにどう作品が展開したかを辿る解説テキストに加え、今回大幅にアップデートされた作品リスト、文献リスト、略歴を掲載。また、毛利武士郎研究者のメイボン尚子による新テキストも掲載されています。ご購入は黒部市美術館のウェブサイトをご覧ください。

Information, News

Article on Timespan’s “Ēastre Weekend” Programme for Bijutsutecho Magazine

Naoko Mabon contributed an article to Bijutsutecho magazine (web) reporting Ēastre Weekend programme held at Timespan in Helmsdale over the weekend of 8-9th April. Centred around the launch of photographer Lina Pallotta’s first photography book Porpora, featuring trans activist and writer Porpora Marcasciano, the programme explored experience of transition, resistance, community, celebration and love through an act as a collective process.

To read the article (in Japanese), please click here.
(Please note: there is a small membership fee to read the whole article, but there seems to be a two-week trial for the membership.)

Event, Information, News

Closing Event for the exhibition “Relationship Between Mohri Bushiro and Kurobe” at Kurobe City Art Museum　黒部市美術館「毛利武士郎と黒部」展クロージングイベント

黒部市美術館での展示風景。撮影：柳原良平。Installation view from the exhibition “Relationship Between Mohri Bushiro and Kurobe”. Photography: Ryohei Yanagihara.


Naoko Mabon will be speaking at the closing event of the exhibition “Relationship Between Mohri Bushiro and Kurobe”, jointly organised by the Kurobe City Art Museum and the Coelacanth – Bushiro Mohri Memorial Museum, together with Sachiko Yanagihara (Artist, Coelacanth – Bushiro Mohri Memorial Museum) and Chikako Shakudo (Curator at the Kurobe City Art Museum).

黒部市美術館と「シーラカンス 毛利武士郎記念館」の共催で開催中の「毛利武士郎と黒部」展クロージングイベントに、柳原幸子氏（造形作家、シーラカンス 毛利武士郎記念館）、尺戸智佳子氏（黒部市美術館担当学芸員）とともにメイボン尚子が登壇します。

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Information, News

Article on “On Sonorous Seas” for Bijutsutecho magazine, April 2023 issue

Naoko Mabon has contributed a text to introduce On Sonorous Seas to the latest Bijutsutecho issue (April 2023, special feature: Black Art). Triggered by one stranded whale came ashore at North end of the Isle of Iona, this project explores the impact of military sonar on the marine ecosystem around the Hebrides in Scotland and gives voice to invisible/hard-to-see things in the deep seas.

For more on the issue and to order a copy, please click here.

Uncategorized

Celtic Colours / Dathan Ceilteach

Come join us for the exhibition, Celtic Colours: Exploring Local Language through Natural Dyes and Pigments

5 Feb-2 Apr 2023
Open everyday 10am-4pm
Silver Birch Gallery at The Rockfield Centre, Oban

Launch Event: Saturday 4th February, 6pm-8pm

Dathan Ceilteach: A’ Rannsachadh Cànain an Àite tro Dhathan is Lithean Nàdarra

Cinn-là an Taisbeanaidh: Didòmhnaich 5 Gearran gu Didòmhnaich 2 Giblean
Àite: Gailearaidh na Beithe; Ionad Achadh na Creige, An t-Òban
Fosgailte 10m. gu 4f., A h-uile latha

Tachartas fosglaidh: Disathairne 4 Gearran, 6f. gu 8.f

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Information, News, Project

Torry Ecomuseum Project “Torry-Yubari Exchange” Second Season　トリー・エコミュージアム・プロジェクト「トリーと夕張の交流」第二季

Torry Ecomuseum Project “Torry-Yubari Exchange” Second Season
トリー・エコミュージアム・プロジェクト「トリーと夕張の交流」第二季

To go to the Instagram account of Torry-Yubari Exchange, please click here.
For more on Torry Ecomuseum Project, please click here.

インスタグラム「トリーと夕張の交流」はこちらをご覧ください。
トリー・エコミュージアム・プロジェクトについてはこちらをご覧ください。

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Information, News

Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History

Such an honour and pleasure to be included in the Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History amongst other experts with a paper “International Conglomerate: Collaborations of Ilana Halperin and Naoko Mabon Between Scotland and Japan”.

Many congratulations and thank you very much to all the organising, editing, reviewing and designing team at the Scottish Society for Art History, and of course, to Ilana. Thank you also Dr Leslie Mabon of the School of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University, for support with proofreading and with English language phrasing.

Journal launch event (online) is planned in January 2023.
For more on the Scottish Society for Art History, please click here.

Project

2022 season of EcoCreative Cluster

© Deborah Gray Textiles

EcoCreatives: Nurturing Creativity, Piece by Piece is the second season of the EcoCreative Cluster, which connects practitioners and practices focusing on nature-based materials and natural dyeing techniques. Over the course of 2022, there have been various collaborative activities taken place, including the dye garden development, skill-sharing workshops and online conversations with dye practitioners across the world.

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