Ralph C. Lumbres

Amabie Koeru Project is a “postal relay” art project during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amabie is a Yokai or mythical creature in Japan. It is said that making and seeing an image of Amabie protects people from epidemics. Lumbres made a sawdust sculpture of Amabie which will be sent to people all over Japan through a postal relay. Each person who receives the sculpture will have to send it forward to someone they would like to send well wished to during these times. Amabie’s journey starts with the sculptor, from Matsudo City in Chiba. He will send the sculpture to an artist couple in Shinjuku－friends whom he’s been thinking of during this pandemic. The postal relay will continue until the World Health Organization declares that the pandemic has officially ended. The person who receives Amabie during the end of the pandemic will send the sculpture to one of the members of the project who lives in Kyoto. Through this gesture, the project aims to leverage the power of art and myths to connect people even in times of limited mobility in our modern world.

This project was made with the help of Ness Roque and Keiko Yamaguchi.