Distance / Continuity

This title came to me after our meeting in Nantes, during our first visit to IEA-Nantes. It started from the idea that, between France and Japan, the landscape could be thought of through the prism of photography and painting; then the 2011 earthquake completely changed our projects and we decided to continue our collaboration at a distance. The disaster, or rather disasters, also made me change my way of conceiving the landscape considerably. The Tohoku region, which I have known for a long time, was completely destroyed by the tsunami. The Ryozen Mountains of Fukushima rise as usual in their usual place, only now access was forbidden because of radioactivity.

This leaves the landscape suspended between the seen and unseen world, devoid of the past and with no way of knowing its future. I took these photos in Fukushima, a few months after the disaster, and I e-mailed them to Marie, who used them in Nantes to make these drawings.

Our first exhibition opened in Nantes in December 2011. This was followed by a tour of Japan, first in Fukushima in 2012, and then in Nikko, Tokyo and Kyoto in 2013 (Chihiro Minato).

J'ai pensé à ce titre après notre rencontre à Nantes, à l'occasion de mon premier séjour à l'IEA-Nantes. Thinking about landscapes through photography and painting, between France and Japan, was at the origin of this title, but the 2011 earthquake completely changed our plans and we decided to continue working at a distance. The disaster or rather disasters have also greatly changed my idea of landscape. The Tohoku region, which I have known for a long time, was totally destroyed by the tsunami. The Ryozen Mountains of Fukushima stood as usual, but access to them was forbidden because of radioactivity. The landscape now becomes suspended between the visible and invisible world, with no way of knowing what its future will be and deprived of its past. I took these images in Fukushima a few months after the disaster and sent them to Marie by e-mail. She used them to make these drawings in Nantes.

Our first exhibition opened in Nantes in December 2011. Then she went on tour in Japan, first to Fukushima in 2012 and then to Nikko, Tokyo and Kyoto in 2013 (Chihiro Minato).