One of the country’s largest markets, Hankyu is of the first places I filmed b-roll footage (illegally) to help highlight consumerism in Japan’s major cities. Fast forward to today, and we are hanging a show here. What did we choose to display? That’s the fun part… … Continue readingExhibition and Talk at Hankyu Umeda
As a testament to an unconventional year, we spent Christmas on an overnight train from Chaingmai to Bangkok this year. Although we took the trip with our good friends Tomo and Pattarapol, and there were a few bright red Santa hats walking around the train, … Continue readingEnd of Winter Update (2017)
A book of forty five postcards, each with an image from our travels to natural farms, and bite-sized quotes from the natural farmers in Korea, Japan, and the United States. … Continue readingFinal Straw: Wisdom from the Field (book)
The year started off in the mountains of South Korea. Generally it’s been cold here this year, but not quite as bad as the winter a few years past. That is, until we got out into the country side a bit. The image below was … Continue readingAn (end of) Winter Update from Dajeon, Korea
Jageun Jip means “small house” in Korean, and it is just that; a very small house on a forested hillside overlooking the city of Daejeon. The house functions as a community library, and a newly opened residency space for writers. … Continue readingArtist Residency in Daejeon, Korea
For the past week, Suhee and I have been carefully going through about 47,000 words of transcriptions from our interviews with farmers over the past few years. From this text, we’re slowly making sense of what we learned, and really, of what has happened since … Continue readingPaper and a Panel Discussion
We’re kicking it up a notch here in Edinburgh. Suhee Kang arrived from South Korea a few days ago, and we’re now preparing both a gallery show and panel discussion for the Final Straw documentary project, set to take place at the end of November … Continue readingAn Expression of Understanding Nature
Tonight in Seoul we’re teaming up with Space Noah and Korean natural farmer, Ryosok Hong (홍려석) to produce a ‘lecture concert.’ Hmm, ‘lecture concert’ might need some explanation, it was a strange phrase to me when I first heard it used. As lecture events tend … Continue readingFinal Straw Event in Seoul
The Final Straw documentary has so far enjoyed great support here in Seoul! In between our editing tasks this week, Suhee and I installed a joint photo exhibition at Space Noah, and also had a few dozen of our handmade photo cards go on display … Continue readingFarm Photos Come to Seoul
How wonderful it is to see the sun in a cup of makkoli with the Isim coffee master. Such is the ‘drinking communication’ in Korean and Japanese culture. … Continue readingUp Through the Clouds
Having just planned my exit from leisurely several days in Luzern, Switzerland, I found myself contemplating the 26-hour travel journey which awaited me: Luzern -> Milan via train Milan -> Istanbul via air Istanbul -> Incheon via air Incheon -> Seoul via train But what … Continue readingBudding Italian Natural Farmers
This is a bit of great news, yet it’s also old news now. To my credit, at the time I was on the craziest 4-week schedule in recent memory, shooting amazing gigs for ZERO1 and Nova Jiang, clearing out and selling off everything in my … Continue readingInterview with Larry Korn
In our second visit to Kawaguchi’s home farm — the first was in May of this year — we enjoyed tea and a more informal chat than on our previous visit. Lately, Kawaguchi-san has spent his mornings working on finishing a book, and although he has … Continue readingYoshikazu Kawaguchi’s Natural Farm
It’s been a busy month or so… to catch everyone up, I’ve started a unique MFA program at the University of Edinburgh called “Art, Space & Nature” which works between the disciplines of art, architecture, and ecology. It’s a good match for the natural farming … Continue readingHarvesting Rice by Hand in Korea
News update for the Final Straw documentary: Since returning from farms in Japan and Korea, I’ve been searching more for Japanese-style natural farms on the West coast of the U.S. — they have been very hard to find/contact — and just this week a very … Continue readingNatural Agriculture in Santa Cruz
This week we filmed in Osaka, Nara, and Fukuoka, and each day was full of fresh local food. In Nara, our amazing Japanese interpreter and I spent an extended weekend withYoshikazu Kawaguchi, a natural farmer who runs a free monthly farming class, including free practice … Continue readingWeek in Western Japan
Just returned to Seoul this afternoon from a beautiful mountainside farm in Hongcheon, a few hours outside of Seoul (by train and bus). The owner of the farm, Gaeguri, is not only a natural farmer, but an author on the topic as well. He was also one … Continue readingOur First Farm Visit in Korea
This morning offered a good opportunity to capture a bit of early-morning Seoul, but not for long. It’s been all rain and wind since 10am or so. Not necessarily a bad thing as I’ve been doing some reading and planning for our farm stays. Tomorrow … Continue readingLate Night Dubokki
The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity, mostly centered around planning out this trip to Korea and Japan for the Final Straw project, but other highlights were: Lunch meeting with San Jose Director of Transportation, Hans Larsen (article coming to sociecity shortly, … Continue readingFinal Straw: The Future of Food Begins
Four years in the making, the documentary film Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness, has been screened in over 200 cities around the world, at film festivals, by global NPOs, community groups, and in academic settings. The film is also part of the Global Environmental Justice … Continue readingFinal Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness