honorable mention
Giulia Maffioli
title
Ukiyoe
“ […] living only for the moment, savouring the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms, and the
maple leaves, singing songs, drinking sake, and diverting oneself just in floating, unconcerned by
the prospect of imminent poverty, buoyant and carefree, like a gourd carried along with the river
current: this is what we call ukiyo. […]”
In my interpretation of Ukiyo-e, characters are like ghosts, mysterious apparitions, demons, yokai. They show themselves, reveal their own nature, story and then disappear. They are living in shadows, in a past time, in the idea of their own name, abstraction that becomes real, with a human body but always, elusive, ethereal, impermanent. The shots are based on the japanese name, written
by kanji. Kanji tells us how is that character, his mood and behavior. My Ukiyo tells also about hedonism, pleasure of beauty, researching of the wonder, but it is also a memory, a sadness veil for a world that can not be in reality, maybe only in imagination, way of escape, just for a few moments, and then the shadows come back.
back to gallery
entry description
I’ve started a series of portraits inspired by Ukiyo-e reading the words written by Asai Ryōi, that celebrated this mood in his novel Tales of that Floating World, written c. 1661:“ […] living only for the moment, savouring the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms, and the
maple leaves, singing songs, drinking sake, and diverting oneself just in floating, unconcerned by
the prospect of imminent poverty, buoyant and carefree, like a gourd carried along with the river
current: this is what we call ukiyo. […]”
In my interpretation of Ukiyo-e, characters are like ghosts, mysterious apparitions, demons, yokai. They show themselves, reveal their own nature, story and then disappear. They are living in shadows, in a past time, in the idea of their own name, abstraction that becomes real, with a human body but always, elusive, ethereal, impermanent. The shots are based on the japanese name, written
by kanji. Kanji tells us how is that character, his mood and behavior. My Ukiyo tells also about hedonism, pleasure of beauty, researching of the wonder, but it is also a memory, a sadness veil for a world that can not be in reality, maybe only in imagination, way of escape, just for a few moments, and then the shadows come back.
about the photographer
Giulia Hepburn was born 10th february 1987, in a little town in Piemonte. Since she was young she was fascinated by art, painting, creativity in general, until she knows photography. She made specialized studies about photography and made editorial that show her way to see the world. Giulia Hepburn loves to create stories, darkness plot, pictures who lead the viewer, step by step, into her vision. Her inspirations are movies, books, Arts, from them she makes her own vision on her photography.back to gallery