Satoyama

Satoyama is a Japanese word which means ‘a place where nature and people exist in harmony’. It is a way of describing in one word ‘the ethos of living harmoniously within the landscape. It addresses a better balance, one that creates a respectful meeting place between man and the environment’.

It is a series I worked on during the final Lockdown of Spring 2021. The project is everything I had hoped it would be and uses elements from my immediate surroundings at the time. I found these in common outdoor spaces, our parks, woods and gardens, as well as a few images from my ‘bank’ of photographs in the last few years.

Each image has significance. They all use the language and meaning, of the plants and flowers I have combined, including the Camelia, the Magnolia and the Iris. The titles and meanings can be found under the individual pictures below. All of them evoke the style of 18th and 19th century Japanese Masters, such as Saito Ippo, Ogata Korin, Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai. Their prints and paintings have often been an influence and an inspiration for my practice. My intention was for these words to translate into a way of thinking that we should all have towards climate change and the preservation of the planet.