72 microseasons project

experimental film & installation

IN PRODUCTION

An animated documentation of the 24 Solar Terms and 72 Microseasons in the Japanese lunisolar calendar. A record of a multi-generational family living in Yoshino, Japan, this installation allows people to experience and play with 24 phenakistoscope animations, historically one of the oldest methods of filmmaking and animation. Each of the animations correlate to spoken reflections on daily life across the 24 solar terms, as told by a family living in a traditional, centuries-old farmhouse.  

Awarded 2024-25 U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship with funding from The U.S. National Endowment for the Arts and International House of Japan.

This project had its first iteration at a weeklong event in the home, gallery, and restaurant belonging to the Watanabe Family, in the summer of 2025. This was the same space in which these stories were originally taking place and being recorded across the microseasons. The extended project is still in production, and will be viewable both as a film and as an installation.

video preview of the phenakistoscope animations