Artwork > Tunnel Books / Paper construction

Boat Spirits (Funayûrei) are ghosts that have died in shipwrecks and become vengeful.
They are said to use ladles to fill boats with water to make them sink in an attempt to cause humans to join them.
It is said that fishermen were told never to go fishing during the Bon Festival (mid August) when people believe their ancestors and the spirits return to their home as they would meet the Boat Spirits and lose their life.

This work was made as part of the artist in residence program at Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Photograph by Harvard Wang