Shoko Kanazawa

 "Together Alive"        Shoko Kanazawa 2016

In Japanese Shodo (Way of Calligraphy), there is a saying which goes: Kokoro tadashikereba sunawachi fude tadashii— which means loosely "If your mind is correct, the brush will be correct."  The Japanese word 'Kokoro' can also mean 'heart', but sometimes it can mean other things as well, such as mind, spirit and the essence of an individual. It's a big little word.

 

Shoko Kanazawa  2012

In Shodo practice, having a correct mind actually means to become free of conceptualising mind and make marks directly from our true nature. Correct mind means to stay calm, focused and be fully present so that all the brushstrokes come directly from the heart, or kokoro.

If you want to see what that really means, please take a look at acclaimed Japanese calligrapher Shoko Kanazawa in action by clicking right here. 

Images courtesy of  shoko.org/en/index.html

Étienne ét Moi

http://laurastestaardvark.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/photographing-air.html

I've been looking at the works of a nineteenth century French scientist, biomechanics engineer, inventor and motion photographer named Étienne Jules Marey. His name may not sound familiar but it was Marey's work that served as the foundation for Eadweard Muybridge‘s iconic animal locomotion studies. Marey also directly influenced the development of early cinema. (see links for info) 

Marey's smoke and aether photographs are my personal favourites. They are mysterious and haunting images. The occupation with making the invisible visible, took up the latter part of his life. He dedicated his last few years to documenting movements of air. When asked why it was so important Marey stated in  La méthode graphique dans les sciences expérimentales (1878), "This method allows observing and measuring the "relation of space to time that is the essence of motion"  

Nereid Running  (reversed)    R Allen-Sherwood

The similarity in our interests kindles a feeling of familiarity. Of something known, even though it is unknown. But the real "aha!" moment came when, on a hunch, I reversed or inverted one of my black and white Nereid images, and placed it.next to his photo and..... voilà!  A perfect doppelgänger - aetheristically speaking, of course. 

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Jules_Marey
http://www.robinsonlibrary.com

Musee D'Orsay