Since Rinko Kawauchi (Shiga, Japan, 1972) burst onto the art scene in 2001 through the simultaneous publication of three photobooks,
Utatane
(Catnap),
Hanabi
(Fireworks) and
Hanako
(Little More), his work has continued to win fans through its lyrical interpretation of the everyday.
A day to day that is presented as the revelation of a luminous, almost dreamlike space, as simple as it is extraordinary, to confront us with the natural order of things and warn of our own fragility.
A vision in which a photographic sensibility as self-absorbed as it is allusive is manifested, which springs from the observations and daily experiences of the photographer herself.
While the members of the Provoke group rocked the Japanese photography scene in the late 1960s with their groundbreaking are-bure-boke (grain, sweep, blur) style, their frenetic and radical style has been contrasted in these two decades for the aesthetic and more accommodating universe of the photographer.
'No title'.
From the series 'Ametsuchi' (2013).
Rinko Kawauchi
'No title'.
From the series 'Illuminance' (2009).
Rinko Kawauchi
'No title'.
From the series 'Ametsuchi' (2013)Rinko Kawauchi
'No title'.
From the series 'Illuminance' (2009).
Rinko Kawauchi
'No title'.
From the series 'Illuminance' (2011).
Rinko Kawauchi
'No title'.
From the series 'Illuminance' (2011).
Rinko Kawauchi
'No title'.
From the series 'Utatane' (2001).
Rinko Kawauchi
Sometimes it is her daughter who discovers a small amphibian to the author, or her husband who warns her of the presence of a spider web.
Small and ethereal fragments that will shape a visual diary that is expressed through dualities and are part of an interconnected whole.
And it is precisely in this interconnection where that totality acquires its meaning and explanation.
“To create an atmosphere, I need many elements to come together in a series,” says Kawauchi, who honed his gaze in the field of commercial photography, “that seemingly unconnected themes, landscapes and small details coincide, as well as different moods and environments, that express my own feelings about the passage of time, the fragility of life.
They are actually metaphorical images, [about] how fragile our world is.”
The photographer has been recognized with the award for Outstanding Contribution to Photography at the latest edition of the Sony World Photography Awards.
Controversy has plagued the contest this year when the news broke that Boris Eldagsen, winner of the first prize in the Creative category, has rejected the award after revealing that the winning image, The Electrician, had been created using artificial
intelligence
.
This is the first time AI has won a photo contest and the second time a hoax has marred a photo event, following Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen's
presentation of
The Book of Veles
at the Visa pour l'image Festival in 2021.
Sony Award winning works are displayed at Somerset House in London.
It is there that Kawaushi has been in charge of selecting some of his photographs in a small sample that can be seen until May 1.
The images belong to some of his best-known series such as
Illuminance
(2011),
Aila
(2004) and
Ametsuchi
(2012).
Made with a large format camera, this latest series is inspired by
noyaki
, a centuries-old tradition practiced in Japan, which includes the controlled burning of vegetation in order to favor grazing.
A practice that allows the artist to delve into a recurring theme in her career: rebirth and regeneration, as well as the transcendence of memory.
"The concept of the passage of time, or the sense of impermanence always occupy the heart of my work," says Kawauchi while she defines beauty as "something that is not eternal."
Something fleeting that the photographer is able to capture in the moments in between, in a reality that is beyond appearance and reminds us that, for something to light up, other parts must remain in the dark.
In Kawauchi's work, "light obscures as much as it reveals: it reflects, penetrates, dematerializes and makes things invisible",
Illuminance
.
'No title'.
From the series 'Utatane' (2001).
Rinko Kawauchi
“I believe that the world is made of a few things that we can see and many more things that we don't see.
So the photographic medium can be a very effective way of approaching these things that remain invisible”, Kawaushi points out while defining photography as a way of interacting with his own unconscious.
A process based on intuition for which he tries to empty his mind in order to capture moments that allude to the great cosmic forces that hide behind them.
Influenced by Shintoism, where everything is permeated by the same spirit;
the same a rock, a frog, a human being, and whose tradition invites us to inquire about the origin of things, Kawauchi's work invites us to reflect on a broader and more differentiated meaning of truth.
While her early books were virtually textless, in recent years faint images of her are often presented accompanied by haikus written by herself.
“Both disciplines are united” assures the photographer.
I believe that my photographic work should always be poetic.
Poetry contains beauty and has a way of transmitting that cannot be explained."
Kawauchi's photography is an open door to a dimension beyond that dominated by the will of man.
A celebration of life where the pleasure of looking and feeling is exalted as a glimpse of hope.
Rinko Kawauchi.
Sony World Photography Awards, 2023. Somerset House.
London.
Until May 1st
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