Hato-bue Choir Hato-bue Choir (2023) was a community-engaged project led by Cindy Mochizuki and guest artists at Tonari Gumi. A series of 4 artist-led workshops on breath, wellness, drawing, ceramics and performance storytelling invited participants to create their own individual "hato-bue" flutes. The hato-bue flute is a traditional Japanese
Mingei collectible object that was seen as a lucky talisman gifted to children for good health.
Autumn Strawberry Autumn Strawberry (Summer 2019) was a research project conducted during Mochizuki's artist residency at Surrey Art Gallery. Many Japanese Canadians, including Mochizuki's paternal grandparents, worked in Fraser Valley on berry farms which were confiscated by the Canadian Government during the Second World War. The project resulted in a creation of a two-channel animated film, which was shown in 2021.
Shako Club Shako Club (2015), or "social club," was a community-based project conducted during Mochizuki's two-month artist residency at
grunt gallery, Vancouver. In collaboration with a Japanese Community Volunteer Association, Tonari Gumi, the project focused on community bonding through cooking and sharing knowledge and story; seniors made unique lunch boxes (
bento) incorporating their personal stories and wellness philosophies. Members of the public could order those lunch boxes in exchange of gifts to seniors who made those "culinary sculptures."
Open Doors Project Open Doors Project (2011) was a public art project that took place at the
Powell Street Festival in 2011. Using the Japanese card game
hanafuda as a visual inspiration, Mochizuki created sixteen panels as historic reference points of Japanese and Japanese Canadian people and their personal narratives. Each panel was placed each in front of a building, which used to host shops and institutions run by Japanese communities before WWII. == Exhibitions ==