Between the Sea and the Mountain – Kumano
The theme of 'Between the Sea and the Mountain – Kumano' is the shooting of pre-mythological landscapes. The series records the path starting at the sea and leading to the mountains via the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route, which was created through years of work by both man and nature. In our contemporary society flooded with photographs shot with digital cameras and cell phones, the act of looking at photographs is frequently carried out as a means to confirm known information, making any surprising visual experience rare. This situation has forced Suzuki to become self-conscious about the photographic medium. Suzuki aimed to capture the landscapes of Kumano that ancient peoples saw and identified as mythic sights. He strove to capture primordial landscapes that were seen before people learned to read and define objects of their gaze cerebrally. In this series, he released the shutter in response to light, wind, and sound in order to incorporate fluctuations in the external environment.