Offering

2024

thread, glue, dried kelp, dried ginger root, apple seeds, dried plum, rice grains, aluminum, steel

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[excerpted from Ravelling Seams, Massy Arts Society exhibition text by Faune Ybarra] Sena Cleave’s woven netting sculptures put into tension sonaemono (offerings) exchanged between diasporic Japanese communities. Dried kelp, apple seeds, orange peels and rice are woven using butcher’s and poly rope — strings commonly used to tie food and level brick assembles in a construction. In this fashion, Cleave offers their ancestors a home, a home where the thread and gifts hold each other in place while leaving space for the

in-betweenness spanned from this bonding gesture.

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Creative Access Description

Four photos of a shimmery white handwoven artwork hanging on a white wall. It is 26 inches wide and 57 inches tall. The artwork is made of loosely woven threads resembling a net. A nail on each top corner supports the weight of the artwork, causing it to droop downward in the middle. Thread ends are tied into knots lining the top and bottom edges.

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Attached to the threads and scattered across the artwork are various objects. These include shrivelled ginger roots, dried ume plums, and oblong fish cut from thin sheets of shiny aluminum. The fishes’ eyes and scales are embossed into the aluminum. In several spots, the knotted ends of the woven threads dangle loose in front of the artwork. 

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Roughly near the center and diagonal to each other, two palm-sized silvery tubes protrude through the artwork, disrupting the thread tension and causing the netting to pucker. The tubes are formed by sheets of metal rolled with their edges facing forward, revealing the wall behind them, and creating a perch for objects. Inside the tubes sit several rolls of dried kelp, and into one side where the rolled metal overlaps is wedged a pinch of uncooked rice grains. ​