To search and not to find (Kyoto CXXXV)

What all of these photos from Japan can't show, is the artistic process that was on during my stay there. But maybe 'artistic' is the wrong word as the paintings and drawings are for me a mere side product of an ongoing process that doesn't aim to produce art. Paintings are forms out of the formless, the photos being images from already visible forms. I'd rather call it just 'the search'. 

"What I'm looking for, what I'm looking for..." was repeating in my mind most of the time. So not knowing the destination of this quest, in a way I felt detaching myself from my familiar surroundings for two years just to try and tap into the subconscious process and to strengthen my senses aimed both out and inwards by wandering lost. That aimless search gave me a lot and I highly recommend it to you too. I would say it was almost like painting with feet into the horizon. Artistic or not, it was an endeavor to search and not to find.

One of my favorite spots in Kyoto, Kamo -river at Demachiyanagi, revisited time after time:

Kyoto, July 20th:

To purify and protect (Kyoto CXXXIV)

Another festival from July in Kyoto. Mitarashi matsuri gives people an opportunity not just to purify oneself and protect from misfortune but also to cool off during the hottest days of the summer. The Shimogamo -shrine was full of people waiting in line to slosh about in the cold holy water in front of the god and under the hot sun. The simplest ideas are the best and this festival made sense in both physical and spiritual way.

The searing hot air burnt these photos on the sensor of the camera, and the glimpses on my retina. I can still smell the hot sand that was once grass and insects.

Kyoto, July 20th: