Odori

In Japanese celebration, dance and death have long been connected. Rebekka Deubner’s photographs, taken during the festival of Obon, capture glimpses of this Buddhist celebration honoring the spirits of the ancestors and their presence among the living. These images of fireworks, body parts, masks, and textiles unveil ‘Odori’, the dance of Bon. At the heart of these five-hundred year old traditional celebrations, the costumes, music, and gestures are collected into an exhilarating trance that lends shape to the spirits of the deceased. With Odori, Rebekka Deubner composes picture loops that operate akin to amulets that wish to seek other inner worlds; highlighting the mystical, to escape reason and underline life’s boundedness.