Ikebana, Japan, 2008

This beautiful work is from Eigen Shoku series shot in Japan. All Eigen’s works are analogue, black and white images printed on extra matt fibre-based paper, which is hand mounted with rice starch. There is an extensive process of manual labour involved in the crafting of each work,resulting in unique objects of exquisite beauty. The tactile aspect of her technique is vital; “I use my hands to develop the films and while printing, and I feel the actual paper in my hands. As Japanese writer Sôetsu Yanagi wrote: ‘the beauty of everyday things is that things done by hand are more soulful because the hand is closer to the heart”. Eigen’s images are calm, subtle, yet arresting. They evoke an atmosphere of silence and force us to stop for a minute and just look. Her arbitrary cropping of a scene or an object into only partial details and the great variety of grey nuances convey a different kind of hugely evocative abstraction. “The light plays the most important role in the search for a harmonious picture; its significance is the reason why I chose ‘Shoku’ as the title of my book. Shoku is an old Japanese measurement, which refers to the luminance of a candle”. Please allow 2-3 weeks for shipping.