After the violent earthquake in Japan that hit the Noto Peninsula on 01.01.2024, I decided to offer two photographs for a charity sale to benefit the victims of Wajima, because I felt it was necessary for this work, which is closely linked to the earthquake of 05.05.2023, to contribute, however modestly, to the reconstruction of the town of Wajima.
Half the proceeds will be donated to the Wajima Disaster Relief Organization.
・The first half corresponds to my royalties and remuneration.
・The second half corresponds to the running costs of my Studio, taxes and charges as well as the costs of Fine Art paper and pigment ink.
Would you be interested in making this donation?
Please click on the link below:
FRENCH ANTIQUE & ART GALLERY
!! My wife being Japanese, the donation will be directly redistributed by Japanese bank transfer to the Japanese Red Cross in Ishikawa Prefecture, as soon as the artwork has been delivered to you.
We will provide you with the certificate of proof of the deposit made in Yen by my wife !!
Characteristics of the 2 works
Title work left: ささやき 0x608EBF51
Title work on the right: ささやき 0x604ABB51 (Sold out)
Year: 2023
Copy: #2/3 (Limited edition 3 copies + 1AP)
Dimensions: 30x30cm
Technique: In situ long exposure digital photography
Nikon DF camera with Nikkor H-85mm f1.8
Printing: Pigment inks on Hahnemühle paper Fine Art Bright White Rag 310g
Signature: Signed on back
Certificate of Authenticity: Yes
Frame: Light oak box with museum glass
Note: Very discreet imperfections visible on the edge of the frame (-10% discount deducted)
Free: My “Spirituelles Odyssées” author’s book (€35 value)
Price per work: € 630
Shipping: Free
Please click here to view larger images
But why offer these two photographic works in aid of the victims of Wajima?
When I visited Japan during the spring of 2023, I went to Kenroku-en Park in Kanazawa on the night of May 4-5. It was a full moon night and I heard a symphony of natural elements. These hundred-year-old trees, these lakes that have spanned the dynasties and this moon so radiant, brought me the sensation of being on the stage of a theater nō.
The energy I captured that night was so strong, so radiant, so penetrating that the beauty of nature was sublimated, and its complicity with the cosmos clearly understood. It seemed that all this beauty was in motion, and that it was entering a marvellous, supernatural dance.
A few hours later, I was on my way by bus to Suzu in the north of the Noto Peninsula, when we were suddenly stopped in our tracks on May 5, 2023 at 2:42 pm by a violent 6.5 magnitude earthquake, which were followed by numerous aftershocks over a 24-hour period.
I then realized that, that night, in Kenroku-en Park, I had picked up the whisper of an earthquake.
I then decided to call this photographic work ささやき (sasayaki), which means “murmurs “.
As chance would have it, or rather the synchrony of events or an order that eludes us, I subsequently exhibited two photographs from this series at the Gallery Ville A des Arts in Paris with UNESCO’s CNFAP in October 2023.
When I learned on January 1, 2024, that a magnitude 7.6 earthquake had struck the same spot at 16:10 Japan time, I was stunned and overwhelmed.
All the impressions I’d felt during the aftershocks suddenly came back to me, the whole night after we’d tried to sleep on the 9th floor of a hotel on the harbor in the town of Wajima, now devastated by this latest earthquake, in fear of a possible tsunami.
I also felt a great deal of compassion for the Japanese people affected, who had suddenly become homeless, injured or victims, but also a great deal of sadness for this small town where we had wandered with our friends through the pretty streets of the morning market and its atmosphere, which seemed so timeless.
This photographic work consists of just twelve photographs. Twelve images of such density that you don’t need much more to understand the vibratory beauty of this whisper.
The two photographs I’m offering for sale here were exhibited in Paris in October 2023. While the others are waiting for a new story to tell before being shown again.
It seemed obvious to me that this work, in direct resonance with the May 2023 earthquake, had to play a part, however humbly, in Wajima City’s victim relief efforts.
