Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series "Illuminance”, 2011, c-print, mounted on Alu-Dibond, 101 x 101 cm, © Rinko Kawauchi, courtesy PRISKA PASQUER GALLERY
Looking at Rinko Kawauchi’s work is like listening to a whispered conversation, a murmur (one of her series is even called murmuration, the sound of starlings flying across the sky), or the sound of a mountain spring finding its way between ferns. It is gentle and breathtaking at the same time. These images have an energy that grabs you and does not let go. Rinko Kawauchi’s photographs look at life through the tiniest details - a piece of ice held in one’s hand, a bee in soapy water, drops in a spider’s web, the shape of a water hose snaking on grass, a half eaten apple in a blue plate, a grand-mother bending over plants in her lush green garden, a bowl of strawberries with cream, a shallow pond full of tadpoles. These small moments look innocuous and yet they are infused with life - they are life. They remind us of the fragile beauty of existence and of Earth itself. Each image is a meditation. Kawauchi’s work also shows us that there is no need to travel far to understand our planet Earth. It is revealed to anyone willing to pay attention to the tiniest details and humble moments of our life. “I feel most present and in the moment when I am taking photographs,” explains Kawauchi. “That’s part of why I chose photography. It is difficult to be in the moment in everyday life. That’s why photographs are so wonderful.”
Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series M_E, 2021, c-print, 40 x 26.7 cm - 75 x 50 cm - 120 x 80 cm, © Rinko Kawauchi, courtesy PRISKA PASQUER GALLERY
Her new show - her first major U.K. exhibition - at Bristol’s International Center for Contemporary Photography is entitled M/E. It stands for Mother + Earth + Me highlighting the connection between the 3. “In 2019, I started photographing again 3 years after my first child was born. I was itching to be a photographer again,” explains Rinko Kawauchi, somewhere completely different and to face myself again,” she says.
M/E starts with Kawauchi’s work about Iceland’s volcanoes, the snowy landscapes of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, and everyday home life in the Covid era. These images seem to be unrelated to one another, but they depict events happening on our planet. “I had gone to Iceland 20 years before and remember feeling so small compared to the environment. M/E is from that trip and scenes from around the house. It’s the first work since becoming a mother. It is also the culmination of everything I learned.”
Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series ''Ametsuchi'', 2012, c-print, Dibond, 148 x 185 cm, © Rinko Kawauchi, courtesy PRISKA PASQUER GALLERY
The show also features a selection of images from different projects the photographer has published over the years - Illuminance, Ametsuchi, AILA, which is about birth and nature. It celebrates over 20 years of Rinko Kawauchi’s career.
The artist, born in 1972, in Shiga, East of Kyoto, studied photography at Seian University of Art & Design. She lives in a house in nature in Chiba, not far from Tokyo. Her studio is on the 1st floor of the house. “When I am stuck, she says, I do laundry.”
The name of this work - M/E - implies self-reflection. “Covid made me realize we are one part of this vast planet which is interconnected to everything on it. We have to protect all that is beautiful about this world. I would like people to rethink this idea with me.” After looking at Rinko Kawauchi’s work, it would require an act of will not to be looking at our relationship to the Earth.
~Jean-Sébastien Stehli
Rinko Kawauchi. At the Edge of the Everyday World. Arnolfini - Bristol’s International Center for Contemporary Arts. Until Feb. 16.
Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series ''Ametsuchi'', 2012, c-print, Dibond, 148 x 185 cm, © Rinko Kawauchi, courtesy PRISKA PASQUER GALLERY
Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series ''Illuminance'', 2011, c-print, Dibond, 101 x 101 cm, © Rinko Kawauchi, courtesy PRISKA PASQUER GALLERY
