Photo Exhibition

Last week the art teacher at my school asked me to submit some artwork for a local exhibition of art teachers' work, which was flattering to say the least. I selected three photos and mounted them in frames, and on Saturday went along to the venue (in the thick snow) to check out the rest of the exhibits. It was smaller than I'd previously thought, but packed with some varied and interesting works from local teachers. I was proud to be a part of it.

Photo's 1 and 2 I mounted in the same frame and called it "Country of contrast." Photo 1 is from the 2010 Nozawaonsen fire festival. Rural Japan is, certainly where I live, very quiet and peaceful, and I was struck at the time by how "violent" the festival entertain was. Looking back at my photos I was reminded of the show and shortlisted the photo from a few others. Photo 2 is from a tea ceremony I went to in Autumn 2009. The sakura in the bottom of the tea cup looked so peaceful and serene, and when combined with the fire festival photo seemed to conjure up a contrasting snapshot of Japanese culture.

"Country of contrast."


Photo 1


Photo 2

Photo 3 is ok a tree that stands next to the swimming pool at my Junior High. I walk past it every day from the carpark to the school building and every day I take a good long look at it. Subsequently I have been taking shots of it in all types of weather and of course the four seasons; I expect I'll be making a photo composition of them sometime this year. This particular shot is from September 2010 I think.

I called it "A safe place."


Photo 3


At the exhibition