We are very pleased to show works by Stephen Gill and Rinko Kawauchi from their respective series ‘Night Procession’ and ‘Halo’ at this year's edition of Unseen Amsterdam.
Stephen Gill’s newest series ‘Night Procession’ is informed by his many walks in rural south Sweden, where he moved with his family in 2014. Coming across animal’s traces like feathers and footprints he “… imagined them encountering each other. I thought of their eyes – near redundant in the thick of the night – and their sense of smell and hearing finely tuned and heightened. … Envisaging where [their] activity might unfold, coupled with a hopeful foresight, I placed cameras equipped with motion sensors, to trees, mostly at a low level, so that any movement triggered the camera shutter and an infrared flash (which was outside the animals’ visual spectrum). … I had grappled for many years with this idea of stepping back as the author of images to give space for chance and to encourage the subject to step forward. … This was nature’s time to speak and let itself be felt and known. ”
With ‘Halo’, Rinko Kawauchi expands her exploration of spirituality that she started in 2013 with her series and book ‘Ametsuchi’. In these works, she mainly focused on the volcanic landscape of Japan’s Mount Aso – the Shinto rituals she observed there becoming her anchor for further explorations.
The ‘Halo’ series is made up of three interwoven sections, focusing on differing spiritual traditions. One of the three depicts the “…countless numbers of migratory birds [to] appear throughout Europe [in wintertime]. …Their movements almost resemble a dance. It is said that this activity serves to stave predators away, although only birds know why they behave this way. ... The smaller flocks, one by one, come together to create a massive, collective body—this phenomenon comes to resemble human society itself. Their movements create the appearance of a great, shifting shadow. It is like feeling the unidentifiable power brought about by being part of a great crowd.”
