Artist-in-residence Marina Lisa Komiya spoke with Dot Zhihan Jia, Curator (Studios & Residencies) to discuss Komiya’s film Reproductive Garden (2023) and their activist work in Japan, practising and embodying queer theories.
The pair discussed various themes, including archiving queer histories through fictioning, understanding the body as a vessel of knowledge, and the importance of recognising historical struggles for queer visibility.
The conversation followed a screening of Reproductive Garden (2023), a film made by Komiya and their collaborator Chihiro Suzuki. Using the concept of a regulated house, the film compares residential land on which development is impermissible due to current Japanese building codes to the law restricting same-sex marriage.
This event formed part of the public programme for Komiya’s ongoing research project Reproductive Garden, which interrogates the archetypes of English and Japanese gardens and how they can act as societal models through which different people can coexist.
Marina Lisa Komiya’s Residency was supported by Japan House, London.
Marina Lisa Komiya (b. 1992, Atlanta, US) is currently based in Tokyo, Japan. Komiya's focus is to explore new methods of reproduction through various mediums such as installation, project, biotechnology, performance, video and the management of spaces. All their works use their own body to practise queer time theory. They are also a host of a queer artists platform, "FAQ?".
Japan House London is a cultural centre for Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation and technology in London. It is free and open to everyone and aims to create a forum for creative and intellectual exchange between Japan and the rest of the world.
Marina Lisa Komiya, Reproductive Garden, 2020. Installation view at Gallery TOH. Images courtesy of the artist.
