Red Thread 赤い糸

I’ve had a breakthrough! I think I have thought of the element that is going to “tie” my work together (pun intended.)

Whilst viewing Jim Goldberg’s photobook Open See (1), via an online video flip-through (2), I was simultaneously thinking of one of my original ideas to incorporate mixed media into my work (by writing on photographs or photographing and adding other elements.) I was not particularly engaged with Goldberg’s work in terms of inspiration for my own folio, however when the below pages were displayed I was drawn to the inclusion of the tape, as well as the writing.

For some reason, this reminded me of some work I produced in the final year of my Advanced Diploma, which incorporated images and digitally drawn red lines. This series was titled Red  Lines. In the same year I also produced a series where I printed and cut up images, and then used thread and needles to sew them back together.

Now on to the revelation part- Red Thread!

I just had this sudden idea to visually “tie” the images in my series together using reg thread (perhaps photographed on white, or photoshopped “into” images as if they had been sewn onto the page. Out of interest, I quickly searched for “significance of red thread Japan,” and it does have a deep cultural significance that i was unaware of.

赤い糸

There is an old story, or part of folklore in Japanese culture called 赤い糸 (akai ito - red thread.) This originally came from a story from China, but has been adapted to Japanese become common in culture too. The basic premise of the legend is that two people are connected by an invisible red string (in China it is attached to their ankle, but in the Japanese version it is ties to their pinky fingers) and they are soulmates. (3) The further away the two are, the sadder they are, but they are destined to meet one day. Additionally, ‘the red thread can stretch or tie but will never break, and that no matter how long it takes, the two persons tied by it will eventually meet.’ (4) It also means that if the two are separated, ‘they would still be able to find their way back to one another.’ (5).

I was also interested to learn that there is a tattoo trend where couples get a small red bow tattooed onto their pinky finger to symbolise connection and bond. (5)

There are many references to this akai ito in Japanese culture, particularly in anime and manga. It is also heavily referenced in the 2016 film Your Name (君の名は in Japanese.) In this film the thread connects the two main characters not only across physical distance, but through time. I am actually using this book (6) to assist my Japanese reading practice at the moment, so realising these connections feels quite timely.

(1) Goldberg, J, 2009,  Open See, Steidl & Partners, Göttingen.

(2) Allphotobooks, 2012, Jim GOLDBERG: Open See, video, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O0BVWP27iU>

(3) Brightside 2005, The Red String of Fate: A beautiful Japanese legend, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/the-red-string-of-fate-a-beautiful-japanese-legend-140105/>

(4) Collins, S 2020, Akaiito, The Legend of the Red Thread, WeMystic, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.wemystic.com/aka-ito/>

(5) Mutz, P 2020, Couples Tattoo Red Strings On Their Pinky Fingers As A Secret Way To Show Their Love, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.littlethings.com/red-string-of-fate/5>

(6) Shinkai, M 2016, 君の名は (Kimi no Na wa), Kadokawa, Tokyo.