Both Japanese and western cultures have long embraced the notion of ‘pilgrimage’. The popularity of a Japanese pilgrimage was most evident in the Edo period 1603–1860. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrims Progress, published in 1678, highlighted early European appreciation of pilgrimage, a journey of self-discovery.

This pilgrimage is a present-day migrant’s tail, a cross-cultural art collaboration offering a glimpse of experiences and emotions during Lisa and Erica’s first five years in a new world.

A pilgrim (Junrei) usually returns to where they set out from. Although our characters’ current home is Australia, they identify as global citizens, returning to Japan on a regular basis.

Twins Lisa and Erica Hoy were born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Australian father. In 2015, they migrated to Australia to commence tertiary studies. Their parents joined them one year later.

The torii is a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at entrances of Shinto shrines and significant landmarks. Symbolically, it represents the transition from the mundane to the sacred. In this art chronicle, the torii represents moments along a 5-year journey.

I have always appreciated Japan’s natural beauty and the design aesthetics of its constructed environment. Yet despite my many visits, I am only just beginning to understand its social nuances, as I continue to enquire behind its cultural veil.

In this context, I offer a reversal of cultural discovery. Therefore, in a challenge to stereotypes, Pilgrim reveals South Australia through a different lens, inviting Japanese curiosity and appreciation of our State’s natural and built environments.

The torii spans both countries. Each image ambiguously blurs cultural expectations by introducing this Japanese icon into a ‘foreign’ landscape.

The sisters and torii are photographed in South Australia in a diverse range of Aboriginal lands with each scene capturing some of the cultural, social, and environmental discoveries on their journey. Each image provides a visual metaphor for the sisters’ emotions at points along the way. Like many good tales, Pilgrim blends fact and fiction, past, present, and future, with the project itself providing a central point of learning and discovery for Lisa and Erica.

This pilgrimage chronicle succeeded due to a small, dedicated team of Japanese and Australian creatives, the Japanese community in Adelaide, Japanese composer, artist Noriko Tadano and Australian composer performer, William Barton.

To all involved, a massive thank you.

You are now invited to share their journey.

Peter Hall