YUSURIKA (2014)

 

Nature was always part of my childhood. Surrounded by mountains, with young leaves and flowers on the trees, fireflies around the creeks, red dragonflies flying over rice paddies, it turns into a silvery world when snow falls; a place with bountiful nature, that is where I grew up.

I moved to Tokyo when I was eighteen, and for almost ten years since then, I sincerely sought nature. I went to parks and rivers. I found myself in nature, pulled into it without realizing it. Perhaps I was unconsciously catching sight of my original landscape from childhood by facing nature. Or perhaps, it is only natural for us to seek nature.

As I conversed with and observed nature, I came across the buzzer midge, or yusurika in Japanese. Yusurikas inhabit freshwater areas such as rivers and ponds in groups, sometimes forming swarms. Reflecting the flash of the camera, each yusurika turns into a small white ball of light, and transforms into something fantastical, like fairies existing in the natural world.

To listen to the words of nature and capture them in photographs.
I believe I will continue to take myself to nature looking for its words.
I put the pure feelings from and for nature into these works.