In October of 2019, the coastal region near to where I lived during a three month artist residency was impacted by Typhoon Hagibis, or what was called Reiwa 1 East Japan Typhoon. I spent the night that it made landfall in the gymnasium of a nearby highschool. Falling asleep, I listened as the wind was channeled and compressed by the metal roof above me. The result was something breathy and sonorous, a resonating thrum that was both menacing and musical.

The bicycle the residency provided had by this time become central to my activities. I first used it to explore the community of Moriya. Later it became entwined with my studio based work. And by extension, the bicycle shelter beside the studio also gradually fell within my orbit of interest.

I purchased a trumpet mouthpiece at a local second hand shop and amassed bits of plumbing from a hardware store, cobbling them together to create something that when combined with the bike shelter, could become a musical instrument. The resulting sounds, though diminished in scale and danger, bore a similar quality to those that I had first experienced that night in the gymnasium while at the edge of sleep.

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