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?".
Marina Lisa Komiya Residency
In partnership with Japan House London, Marina Lisa Komiya undertook a twelve-week residency at Studio Voltaire.
Komiya’s residency expanded upon their ongoing 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.
The ongoing project, developed together with Chihiro Suzuki in 2018, uses the eradication of weeds and manicured gardens in both English and Japanese horticultural traditions as metaphors. The project highlights disempowered individuals whose existence has similarly been eradicated throughout the history of imperialism and patriarchy.
Reproductive Garden investigates the kinds of places that those who exist outside of the ‘traditional’ heteronormative family institution, can build for themselves.
During their residency, Komiya researched queer-established and community-led gardens in the UK. They engaged with Studio Voltaire’s audiences and onsite community of 51 artists, alongside Studio Voltaire’s garden designed by Anthea Hamilton.
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.