https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08v8gxj/the-art-of-japanese-life-series-1-1-nature
Rinko Kawauchi Hon FRPS 川内 倫子 is a Japanese photographer. Her work is characterized by a serene, poetic style, depicting the ordinary moments in life. Kawauchi became interested in photography while studying graphic design and photography at Seian University of Art and Design where she graduated in 1993. She first worked in commercial photography and advertising for several years before embarking on a career as a fine art photographer. In 2001 three of her photo books were published: Hanako (a Japanese girl’s name), Utatane (“catnap”), and Hanabi (“fireworks”). In 2004 Kawauchi published Aila; in 2010, Murmuration, and in 2011 Illuminance. Her series Illuminance is inspired by the subtle aesthetic of wabi-sabi.
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
Kawauchi’s art is rooted in Shinto, the ethnic religion of the people of Japan. According to Shinto, all things on earth have a spirit, hence no subject is too small or mundane for Kawauchi’s work; she also photographs “small events glimpsed in passing,” conveying a sense of the ephemeral. Kawauchi sees her images as parts of series that allow the viewer to juxtapose images in the imagination, thereby making the photograph a work of art and allowing a whole to emerge at the end; she likes working in photo books because they allow the viewer to engage intimately with her images.
Analysis:
Kawauchi’s photographs give a sublime perspective of nature up close. She incorporates one of the most important photographic elements of light into her work and uses it in her favour to create the most striking images. She studies basic subjects that people see as boring or nothing special i.e. ants, water, flowers, leaves, and turns them into extraordinary focal points. Her photographs have an almost spiritual feel to them as they present nature in a majestic and serene way, differing from many other nature photographers who photograph in monochrome and capture the landscape as a whole rather than zooming in on the finer elements.
“PEOPLE OFTEN SAY THAT I HAVE A CHILD’S EYE. FOR EXAMPLE, I STARE AT ANTS GATHERING AROUND SUGAR, OR WHEN I SEEK SHELTER FROM THE RAIN, I GAZE UPON SNAILS. THESE ARE THINGS WHICH YOU OFTEN DO WHEN YOU ARE A CHILD AREN’T THEY? I HAVE A VERY SIMILAR SENSIBILITY TO THAT.”
“IT’S NOT ENOUGH THAT THE PHOTOGRAPH IS BEAUTIFUL. IF IT DOESN’T MOVE MY HEART, IT WON’T MOVE ANYONE ELSE’S HEART.”
