Ryoko Sekiguchi

Ryoko Sekiguchi
Period: 2013-2014
Profession: Writer Writer and translator, Ryoko Sekiguchi was born in Tokyo and has lived in Paris since 1997. She writes in Japanese and French, and has published eleven books in French, including  
Ce n’est pas un hasard (2011, P.O.L.),
Héliotropes (2005, P.O.L.),
Manger fantômes (2012, Argol),
L’Astringent (2012, Argol). Her Japanese translations include works by Jean Echenoz, Mathias Enard, Atiq Rahimi and Daniel Heller-Roazen; in French, she has translated books by Yôko Tawada and Gôzô Yoshimasu, as well as numerous manga albums. She is a regular speaker at cooking and literature events, and recently published
Le Club des Gourmets et autres cuisines japonaises (P.O.L.), an anthology of Japanese literature on cooking featuring ten authors, including Jun’ichirô Tanizaki, Osamu Dazai and Kafu Nagai. She was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012. Her project for Villa Medici
Mummies and other organic traces – body archives, reformed time revolves around the various traces that remain of a life – organic traces (voices, body parts) or inorganic (photography, radio) -, and the relationship we maintain with them. In particular, it considers the question of the “remaining body”, capable of living a second life of its own, placing the mummy and the preservation of the body at the center of reflection. Research for the book includes visits to mummy collections in museums and churches throughout Italy, where the culture of mummification continued until the early 20th century.