A temple appears between the branches... and then is gone

Cherry blossoms play a very significant role in Japanese culture, since they represent both the renewal of life in the spring, as well as the impermanence of life, as these flowers only come into bloom for a few weeks before withering away and falling to the ground. I was lucky enough to witness cherry blossoms in bloom with my own eyes during an exchange period in Japan; being surrounded by the blossoms’ colorfulness and vibrancy was an experience in itself, but what made it more poignant was to see the cherry blossoms gradually disappear from the tree branches. Thinking back on it now, since this experience felt so visceral for me, I therefore wanted to base my installation on the cyclical nature of life that cherry blossoms represent.

The title of the installation is based on a haiku poem about cherry blossoms I discovered by Yosa Buson, which I adapted to better represent the themes of impermanence and renewal. For the installation, I exclusively used field recordings that I took while I was in Japan, mainly of outdoor environments and temple bells, all of which I stretched out to make them more atmospheric. I then structured it in such a way so that the outdoor environments come first, then the temple bells, then the outdoor environments again, so as to depict a life cycle of sorts, in this case through sound.

presented as part of the Sounds of Blossom Festival at Kew Gardens, London, from March 15 to April 6, 2025