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Kazuyuki Okajima Photo Exhibition Wind and Earth

The Dingle Peninsula in Ireland is at the very west end of Europe. There, the prevailing Westerlies blow past a long and winding coastline that stretches out to the Atlantic Ocean. Despite heavy rainfall throughout autumn to spring, lush greenery and trees are scarce. Forests are nonexistent. As this is a place of scenic beauty, crowds of tourists from all over the world gather during the day. Conversely, it recovers its tranquility at dusk and dawn. There is almost nothing to shield the view from the wind and the rain. The spreading scenery leaves a rugged and hard impression. In short, it is a wasteland.

The climate, terrain, geological features, water, earth and vegeta­ tion differ depending on location. This is because of the differenc­ es in light, heat and rainwater. This makes men, flora and fauna unique to each location. Here, men and plants alike spread their roots into the soil to cultivate life and protect themselves from the corridor of wind blowing from the southwest of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the layer of soil that contains water and miner­ als is very thin. Underneath the surface is a hard granite crust. It is not easy to take root and stretch deep into the ground. Green meadows spread across the hills and used to serve as a pasture for sheep and cows. Any living thing that is taller than the grass is constantly fighting from being blown away by the wind. Every­ thing in sight shows the strong mentality of the nature living in this land.

"Fuudo" is a compound noun consisting of two words "fuu=wind" and "do=earth". It originated in ancient China and is said to repre­ sent the ability of life to adapt to the land and its changing sea­ sons. Here, one need not wait a year to witness seasonal chang­ es. The ability of the weather to change at any moment brings a variety of appearances to the scenery. Sometimes, it is calm and peaceful, but in an instant, it could become raging and wild. The land's expression is bare and is not shielded by any woodland area, which makes it easy to comprehend its feelings. Observing the emotions that are crafted by this characteristic climate, from ancient times, I sense the limit of my existence and awaken to the reality of how short my life is. Everything in view is the result of evolution and how nature has adapted to this land since time im­ memorial.

Kazuyuki Okajima Profile

Okajima was born in Fukuoka City in 1967. He Graduated from the Tokyo School of Photography (now Tokyo Visual Arts College).
He went free­-lance after working as a studio assistant and photographer's apprentice. He has authored multiple publications including his photo collection Dingle (Soft Bank Creative, 2008) and Wind and Earth (Impress, 2019). His major exhibitions include The Light and Wind of Dingle (Fujifilm Photo Salon, 2008), TidalTints=Shiosai, (Pentax Forum, 2009), Off to School, We Go: The Children of lnle Lake, Myanmar (Canon Gallery, 2009) and Ku­jukuri (Epson Imaging Gallery "Epsite", 2012).

Under the auspices of :
Embassy of Ireland
Supported by :
Maruman Corp. (Maker of Canson Infinity)
Cosponsored by :
Seiko Epson Corp.