About the final exhibition work of Bill Claps.

　俳句「稲の茎　刈り取られずに　田の縁に」

 Would you explain about your works for the exhibition?

The works that I’m showing is called ‘Stalks of Rice left unharvested’. When I first came here, I spent a week on a bicycle driving around exploring the place. The biggest impression on me was the texture of the rice fields and the patterns. All the time the field was changing which was interesting, so I started documenting the films. I wanted to show the different textures of the field’s images.　The main wall was about the rice harvest about the texture and process of the rice harvest. I had one Haiku that came to me while I was riding on my bicycle one day ‘stalks of rice, left unharvested, the edge of the field’. To me that means a few things, 1. You never complete the things you want. That feeling combine with sad feeling with anticipation about future. There is still something I want to do in future 2. I travel a lot, but I never want to do everything in one place that I always want to leave a few things undone because I want to come back. 3.Always leave some behind in order to recycle for life to continue, That’s kind of the idea of the show.

How was your impression of Aso?

Really strong nature. Very powerful feeling when you come over the village. This kind of energy here which is very positive. I felt home and comfortable here and gave me energy also. I really enjoyed going other towns and people were very warm and welcoming and I’ve been invited to homes.

展覧会のための作品について教えてください。

私の作品は 「収穫されなかった稲の茎」 です。阿蘇に来て最初、1週間かけて自転車で周辺を回りました。一番印象に残ったのは、田んぼの質感と模様です。田んぼは常に変化していて面白かったので、私は記録動画を取り始めました。田の様々な質感を作品に表現したかったのです.　メインの壁に展示したものは米の収穫に関するもので、米の収穫時の過程の田の質感の変化についてでした。ある日、自転車に乗っていたときに、 「稲の茎　刈り取られずに　田の縁に」 という俳句が浮かびました。私にとってそれは、いくつかのことを意味します。

阿蘇の印象はどうでしたか？

とても自然が豊かでいるととても力強い気持ちになります。家庭のように快適で、ポジティブなエネルギーも与えてもらいました。他の町に行くことも本当に楽しみました。そして人々はとても温かく歓迎してくれましたし、家にも招待されました。