Shinrin Roku
[ 2013 – 2015 ]
While traveling in Japan, I experienced what the Japanese call Shinrin Roku or “forest bathing”, a term that refers to the healing power of nature. This act of aligning with nature dramatically altered my photographic vision. Originally a printmaker, I have always constructed my layered photographic images out of a wide variety of sources, but for the first time, it was all taking place in front of my lens. All the complex layers of the natural world were manifesting before me and felt if I were witnessing the “real” landscape for the first time. My visit to the Golden Temple in Kyoto during a snowstorm literally startled me. The role of my camera had been transformed to show me the world in its sublimity.
This series has two parts, the images I captured in Japan and then complimentary self-portraits that reflect my physical self in the midst of experiencing Shinrin Roku. In these portraits, I am one with nature – the human and nature colliding as they reflect a heightened awareness of the power of the natural world.
