The visible world and the inner world—the two realms are woven together by images made of light. Images created from light hold the power to bridge the gap between these distant worlds. Yet, we have grown desensitised to this power, often skipping the stage of awareness in the act of seeing. Without awareness, images lose their power. They fail to weave, and then they collapse. Photography helps me be aware of the worlds I unconsciously bring into contact. In my photographs, I capture in my photographs the light my body and mind, knowingly or unknowingly, yearn for.

For the past two years, I have been working at a company in place of military conscription. Sitting in my chair at work, I feel my body breaking down—collapsing under gravity, twisting with anxiety, hardening with helplessness. A thought crosses my mind: “The chair is a mould, shaping my body to the company’s taste!” As my body conforms to the shape of the chair, I find my gaze also fixed—locked in the lower left diagonal. 

I have always believed that the act of seeing is the link between body, mind, thought, awareness, and self. The leap to bipedalism: Pithecanthropus erectus (also the title of a 1956 Charles Mingus album). Humanity first confronted its own body when it rose from the ground and stood on its two feet. The body, which was always placed behind us, entered into our vision for the first time. Only once our hands and feet came into the world that once filled our entire view were we able to locate ourselves between earth and sky. With the visible world and the inner world woven together, the self emerged. My thoughts deepen as I nod along to Mingus’s music—drifting further down the lower left.

While walking in the mountains, I came across a tree that had just sprouted fresh green leaves. I felt its form stood in stark contrast to my own body, slumped over in a chair. Unlike me, collapsing under the weight of my own body, the tree shot upward—defying gravity, reaching for the sun’s light and stirring something within me. I capture the tree’s light in my photograph.