Artist Statement

These photographs were taken in Autumn on the Japanese island of Kyushu during an artist residency at Beppu Project, Platform 05. I’m interested in the Japanese aesthetic ideal of ‘mono no aware’, which literally means ‘the pathos of things’ because of their transience. This emotion is not always one of sadness but can also be a heightened sensitivity to the beauty of nature, the seasons, love, loss and impermanence. Mono no aware is sometimes translated as the ‘ahh-ness’ of things and existence in general.

earth cradles water

captures the silvery skies

I drift in between

empty nets flowing and bare vines shivering in lament

(Written in the Tanka style - a classical Japanese poem consisting of 5 lines and 31 syllables)