Song of the Universe

FINDING CONNECTIONS AT LESLEY

Japanese artist Rinko Kawauchi feels connections. Connections to and between the personal and the universal. Connections between heaven and earth. Ying and Yang. The living and the dead.

In her upcoming exhibit, “Ametsuchi,” at Lesley University, Kawauchi’s series of large-scale photography pulls together and illuminates images of these connec- tions. The night sky over Tokyo, images of people who seem to be consumed by their landscape, and the controlled agricultural burnings (yakihata) of farmland figure prominently in her work. Kawauchi’s vision shows us the cycles of renewal and cultiva- tion, the infinity of the universe, and the importance of ritual.

Ametsuchi, translated to mean “Song of the Universe,” and taken from the ancient Japanese characters meaning “heaven and earth,” is from one of the oldest pangrams in Japanese.

Lisa Mikulski