Sally Harrison Artist

This is the Hakata Doll that sparked a desire to explore memories from my childhood and a collecting compulsion that’s quietly working its way into a slowly developing body of work.

He is not the original. My father brought the same model of Hakata doll home from Japan when he was working at sea as an engineer. It lived in our house throughout my childhood. Of all the things he brought back from his travels, he was my favourite.

At some point, the original disappeared. Years later, I found myself thinking about where he’d got to and wanting to replace him.

That decision solidified a glimmer of an interest in all things Japanese that had been building inside me for a while.

My dad often brought home mementoes from his trips. He travelled all over the world, and there were always things, and still are – ceramics, textiles, small decorative pieces – that carry memories and traces of elsewhere in our/his home.

Once, he lugged home a hibachi barbecue. I don’t remember knowing anyone else who had one. Having one meant we used our garden differently from other families. We shared the space, and as a kid, it felt exciting. We didn’t need an excuse for a party, and often, we didn’t even need any sunshine.

Those objects shaped the atmosphere of our home, our ornaments were containers of memories, and some even became like friends. An African mask called Humphrey still welcomes you into my dad’s home.

Many of these ornaments and mementoes had survived my parents’ many moves, but somewhere in the West Midlands during my teens, the Hakata doll went missing.

I don’t really know why I started thinking about him. In your mid-50s, I suppose it’s normal to reflect on your past. My dad’s job and his travels were a big part of my childhood, and the trips I went on even more so.

In 1974, when I was five, I went with Dad and my Mom to board The Tacoma City in France. This is me with my teddy, Jane, in France. Credit to David Webb in Shifnal for the beautiful haircut.

From there, we travelled to New Orleans, through the Panama Canal to Japan, up to Vancouver, returning via the canal to Tilbury, where we were anchored out for Christmas.

Later in 1981, my mom, my little brother and I flew out to Mexico to join my dad and go on board The Bibi. She was a magnificent ship.

This voyage took us up the coast of Mexico from Manzanillo to Guaymas in the Gulf of California, across the Pacific Ocean to Japan and then back to Mexico before returning home, full of memories and quietly changed.

In 1985, there was one final voyage. We sailed from San Sebastian in Northern Spain, along the St. Lawrence River to Detroit, and back.

Back to the Hakata doll. He’s a boy, by the way. He should also be holding a lantern, but I only remember him with the fruit stick. Coincidentally, the one I bought only had the fruit stick.

I thought I was going to have to spend a fortune to replace him. I’d been searching on eBay for a while, and the few I found were in America or Japan.

Then this one appeared for a fraction of the price; someone had donated to the dogs’ home charity, from which my Dad had once got our dog, Cali. The girls in the shop thought he was creepy, so he’d been kept in the workshop. I’m glad they did, as it gave me a chance to bring his delightful little face back home with me.

On getting him home, after leaving behind a slightly bewildered, but happy couple who, I don’t think, expected this ‘creepy’ doll to elicit such joy and excitement, I realised he had sparked an interest, an idea and the seed of a plan for a new body of work.

I began looking for and continue to accumulate other Japanese objects that remind me of my childhood visits to Japan. My memories are vague, so I’m going on physical rather than intellectual cues, similar to when a taste or a smell reminds you of somewhere, or when tinsel makes you feel Christmas.

The body of work is growing slowly through my exploration, contemplation and reworking of this collection of objects.

It continues to expand in both number and scope. I started with a Hakata doll, which became a collection of different types of Japanese Dolls, which now also involves me gathering people’s souvenirs, and an interest in contemporary Japanese culture. I’m currently working my way through the Studio Ghibli anime films.