Sea of trees
Sea of Trees (2010) depicts the forest at the base of Mt Fuji, Aokigahara-jukai, focusing on the location’s status as a popular suicide landmark. In addition to the dominant reputation of the forest as a site of the horrific, the forest offers a unique ecological environment, as a forest that grew upon a volcanic plateau post-eruption. The forest is home to a number of nature trails.
Given the site’s horrific reputation there is the issue of spectacle in depicting it photographically. To address this I employed a system for making photographs, photographing every 100m; creating one set of images within the forest, one from the forest’s border looking outward at the bordering highway. The result is a series of dual works, in the form of vertically stacked diptychs. The tiles of the works include fragments derived from web searches about the location, passing between Japanese and English using an auto translation tool.
List of Works
was a star/boundaries are drawn (0m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/0m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
but gentle enough/it through I (100m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/100m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
is hard congestion/and shaking time (200m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/200m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
years ago today/presence is confirmed (300m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/300m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
to overcome is/believes they are (400m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/400m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
elsewhere vividly picture/society has produced (500m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/500m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
glue is for/will be included (600m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/600m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
inducing or damage/make sure that (700m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/700m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
without a kiss/the hollowing out (800m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/800m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
a collective unconscious/please see map (900m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/900m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
by use only/in principle we (1000m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/1000m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
All works 2010. Archival inkjet prints, 1016 x 508 mm, edition of three (plus one artist proof)
was a star/boundaries are drawn (0m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/0m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
but gentle enough/it through I (100m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/100m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
is hard congestion/and shaking time (200m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/200m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
years ago today/presence is confirmed (300m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/300m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
to overcome is/believes they are (400m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/400m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
elsewhere vividly picture/society has produced (500m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/500m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
glue is for/will be included (600m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/600m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
inducing or damage/make sure that (700m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/700m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
without a kiss/the hollowing out (800m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/800m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
a collective unconscious/please see map (900m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/900m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
by use only/in principle we (1000m: Aokigahara-jukai interior/1000m: Aokigahara-jukai limits)
All works 2010. Archival inkjet prints, 1016 x 508 mm, edition of three (plus one artist proof)