The Moon and Bamboo

The project draws inspiration from the classic Japanese folk tale "Taketori Monogatari." It follows the bamboo cutter's discovery of a tiny princess inside a glowing bamboo stalk. The fairy tale narrates the story of a special girl who grows up in the forest with the bamboo cutter and his wife, while extraordinary events turn her into a beautiful young maiden. In her heart dwells the love for simplicity, and to get around an implacable destiny, she asks the Moon for help, discovering her celestial origin. The series portrays female figures extrapolated from hand-tinted albumen prints depicting Japan in the late 1800s. These images were originally studio recreated for a Western audience craving oriental images of a little-known mysterious country. These women now sit in a new composition created by merging them with my photos of Japanese forests. Through photomontage, I released their bodies from the rigid poses of vintage photographs and led them toward a contemplative state, ready to be reconciled with themselves and their origins. The work is an internal journey, a return towards the roots of one’s soul, an expression of the authentic bond uniting human beings to nature.