Photographs and monotype prints on Atsukushi paper
Inspired by the idea of unity and interdependence of opposites that characterizes Asian philosophies, Ciel et Terre explores the correlation between polarities.
The work is strongly influenced by Taoism, which brings the multiplicity of expressions of nature back to two basic phenomena – flux and change – identifying the fundamental principle in the “Tao”, or the “Way”.
According to Taoist thought, the specific mechanism through which the flow and change of the Tao are expressed is the dynamic interaction of Yin and Yang, the two complementary opposites that originally represented the shadow side and the sunny side of a field.
The combination and alternation of Yin and Yang represents the principle according to which the movements of the universe as well as every aspect of life on Earth are explained and understood.
All existing forms are created through the interaction of the two polarities: Yang, the Creative, the positive, the masculine, the firm, the strong, the light (which, in the Book of Changes, is Chien – Trigram of Heaven, considered the father of the other trigrams, which symbolizes the energy of the Cosmos) and Yin, the Receptive, the negative pole, the feminine, the yielding aspect, the weak, the dark, the energy of the Earth (which, in the I Ching corresponds to Kun, Trigram of the Earth, considered the mother of the other trigrams).