The various animals in her photograph seem to be staring at us with a faint yet peaceful omniscience with their sincere silent eyes.
“The animals are a metaphor of a freedom that we have long forgotten.” According to naito, after many generations of human self-assertion, these great creatures that once ruled the earth have gradually adapted to becoming the “listener” of human egoism. They are portrayed confined in her photographs, some with legs cut off, symbolizing the restrained state that they have been put in.“ We impose ourselves on others too much, without the will or patience to listen to others,” Naito explains. “I wanted to create a time and space where we can reset ourselves to be in harmony with these animals and listen as they do.“ Her photograph leads you into a space of serene tranquility.
My interest is the environment of the correlations of nature, humans, animals and their artifacts. The juxtapositions with different kinds define the significance of existence between each other in the same environment.I was born in a small village in Japan and grew up in Tokyo area. Every summer vacation, I spent this small village where my grandparents are living.The experience of the gap between rural and urban life has had a significant effect on me, and its experience has become a start of my interest in the environment. [Official Website]
Silence of breath – Once we all, animals and humans – lived in harmony on the same land. Animals stayed on the land and adapted. Whereas we, humans, left this land to build our civilizations. They, animals stare at us with silence of breath. Our land has been greatly changed. As such, it is now difficult for animals to live on. However, all of us once lived together in this same land.
