①1:26 The Jelly Fish - This was the first piece of art we encountered and would set the tone for what would follow. A sort of surreal floating alien was best as I could understand this first work
②2:09-2:20 These piles of hay had a nostalgic feeling for me as I grew up on a property with a barn and I used to play in the bails of hay there. I thought of these as something like the creatures we would encounter homes
③2:39 These appeared at a glance like horses. Interestingly they were attached by a cord of wood shavings. I thought of these two as a master and his transport. I've no idea if this is true and if they are meant to be the same creature.
④3:38 I affectionately thought of this as an alter. Whatever world these creatures inhabit I thought of this as the place they came to pray to whatever they believed in.

The mind trail is a one month event consisting of three separate trails featuring art installations located in 3 different areas of Nara prefecture. When people are so tired of being stuck inside, the mind trail invites you outdoors into one of the most beautiful prefectures that can be found in Japan. For this journey we visit the Soni location. The art you find in the forest is certainly surreal. I think it would be tough to say that the feeling it gives is only one of positivity. More, you feel a sense of awe or otherworldliness. The first piece of art seems almost like a jellyfish or some kind of floating alien. The second is more like a horse, or possibly a Chocobo. Finally if you complete the trail, there is the altar. No object could sum up better the feeling you will experience on the mind trail, and that is one of wonder.

But why art?

The excerpt below is taken from 'The Mind Trail' website. Please visit for more information.

Since last year and continuing into 2021, numerous art festivals have been canceled or postponed due to Covid-19. Being in a moment when even traveling across prefectures to visit museums is difficult, some may feel vacant, not being able to express themselves through normal activity they used to be engaged in. One must visit art museums or art festivals in order to tangibly feel art. Perhaps this unprecedented situation could be an opportunity to create a museum on the spot where each individual stands and also in one’s mind (=museum in the mind). In the nature indigenous to Okuyamato, could we somehow take all the energies that have been accumulated over this period of world’s overwhelming changes in how we deal things in our lives, and express them through works created by artists? This is the concept that we worked around with to start this art festival in 2020 last year. Visitors to this art festival will be inspired by many new findings from nature, as well as through contacts with the local people residing in the community.

https://mindtrail.okuyamato.jp/

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