Statement

flowers fading away Ⅱ

Flowers fading away ― I don’t know when I should throw them away.
Concept ―
Dead flowers seem to have an afterlife all their own to me, changing, turning into other
lifeforms so that I never know when I should throw them away.
There are always flowers in the corner of my room ― some fresh, others withered.
Their lifecycle is similar to my own as I move through each scene of my day.

Profile

Kei MUTO

Kei MUTO was born in Tokyo, studied art history and design. She worked as an assistant photographer in an advertising firm, then moved to France, where she lived from 1993 to 1999.
Some of solo exhibitions:
flowers fading away（flowers）、studio Te, Oct. 2023
ANEMOI―Flickers of the Wind （scene of Paris）, Dionysos Laboratory, 2019
Séduction（flowers）, Kodak Photo Salon, 1988
Honors:
Selected for 20 Promising Photographers, Parco Gallery, 1989

Jury selection

Photographs capturing the ending life of a cut flower. Photographing until we see the moment when it is a flower yet ceases to be a flower. Until we see the drift from life to death.
The shallow, soft focus and uncertain background lure the viewer's eye into the depths of consciousness, giving the illusion of a tableau, but it is unmistakably a scientific description of the eye through lens and light.
The amplitude of the colors and the flutter of the forms, the sympathy toward the end, suddenly brings us face to face with a new scene, even a prayerful emotion.

Links

• Instagram：@m.keimuto