MUR 001 + ALBAN MANNISI & HAEYONG JEONG + MARITORY BIOCRACY
Alban Mannisi + Haeyoung Jeong served as the inaugural residents. Their project was structured to foster the development of a new community centred around diverse themes that we collaboratively defined with with local stakeholders in the North of Ishigaki. The first week, a series of workshops [dangisho) was arranged to delve into topics such as Ibaruma port and coastal economy, Kuura ocean conservation, and Nosoko farm and permaculture initiatives.
These environmental observatories were recorded and documented to leave a trace and enable dialogue with new expertise, fostering awareness of the then-current situation. Tourism and capitalist investment projects, often ignorant of ordinary and traditional ongoing activities, were identified as detrimental to sustainable modes of existence.
Each seminar was conducted to allow participants to report and discuss the issues, challenges, and transitions that they faced every day in an age of climate change.
We also all learned about the connection between our surroundings and social life, exploring how they influence each other. This was done by looking at how the island shapes our social world and, in turn, how our social interactions impact the environment. We took a closer look at how people internalise these environmental conditions and express them in their everyday.
Session 1- Ibaruma Port & Satoumi (Taira Family)
“Ibaruma has more than 500 years of history with people coming from Okinawa, Miyakojima, Yonaguni so the diversity of people here is higher than in many other places…” Shokiji Taira
Participants: Shokiji Taira (Taira Family); Yaeko Taira (Taira Family); Kinjo Yasuo (Yuimaru Umi Budo); Shinobu Koizumi (Yuimaru Umi Budo); Junko Mori (Roots & New Roots)
Translation: Tomoki Tanaka (Hyogo University); Manami Fujita (Ma Umi Residencies)
Onsite research and coordination: Valerie Portefaix
Session 2 - Kuura village and Ocean Conservation (Yoshida Sabani)
“Over the Past years, while working as a ship builder, I remembered the quiet life I had when I moved to a small village. What was different from before, was that Was ablate spend a very spiritually rich time building a sabani.” Tomohiro Yoshida
Participants: Tomohiro Yoshida (Yoshida Sabani); Tsukasa Matsuura (T&T Ishigaki ); Tatsuhiro Rodoriguez Sato (Manua Kekai); Rumi Sato (Manua Kekai )
Translation: Tsukasa Matsuura (T&T Ishigaki); ; Manami Fujita (Ma Umi Residencies)
Onsite research and coordination: Valerie Portefaix
Session 3 - Nosoko Food and Health (Kaneshiro Komikan)
“I practice circular agriculture, minimising the use of raw product and materials to create a full circle from animal and human waste to food production.”
Kayoko Asato
Participants: Participants: Kayoko Asato (Kitchen Misaki); Matsuura Takahiro (Rainbow Forest); Rumi Sato (Manua Kekai); Tatsuhiro Rodoriguez Sato (Manua Kekai); Rie Matsuda (Kissa Akubi); Eriko Ihana (Sense Awake English Coaching)
Translation: Eriko Ihana; Manami Fujita (Ma Umi Residencies)
Onsite research and coordination: Valerie Portefaix
This series of workshop were completed by Haeyoung at the end of the first week. She led an Art therapy workshop at the Pink Turtle beach to engage participants in meaningful discussions about environmental awareness and our connection to nature through artistic exploration. The objective was to strengthen our connection with the shoreline by gathering shells and drifted objects, and then, through their arrangement, suggest various narratives. Participation was open to everyone, irrespective of artistic abilities.
Alban Mannisi is a Landscape Urbanist, founder and director of SCAPETHICAL, Built Environment Practice and Research Platform. His research focus is on the emerging political ecology implementation in landscape planning and the social ecology deployment through various indigenous environmental mediation. His recent projects and inquiries decipher the globalisation of sustainable narrative and the foundation of localised citizen resistance to translate intangible landscape components in environmental design.
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Addressing environmental, social, and spatial injustice, he designs an innovative environmental observation protocol, translating human and non-human conflicts into resilient spaces. To combat the growing complexity of our societies’ environmental construction, he introduces a Political Philosophy of Landscape, enabling ethical design and equitable planning. With a keen interest in interconnected histories and hybrid cultures shaping our surroundings, he has lived, worked, and taught in multiple countries, collaborating with diverse professionals—landscape architects, , architects, urban planners, environmentalists, governmental officers, researchers, and academics.
Haeyoung Jeong is a World Council for Psychotherapy certified psychotherapist since 2013 and British registered art therapist since 1999. She obtained her Doctor of Psychotherapy Sciences from Sigmund Freud University Vienna. Her international experience as a practitioner covers Edinburgh, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul where she has worked with a wide range of people of all ages and diverse cultural and societal backgrounds in various settings.
Her research interests focus on transcultural, historical, hermeneutic study of psychotherapy, cross-cultural (art) psychotherapy, socio-psychological intervention, eco-art therapy, and environmental psychology. Currently, as an independent practitioner and consultant, she practices, teaches, and researches in and around the Asian regions.