Shikawatari

Chieko Shiraishi brings us photographs taken in the depths of winter on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The exhibition Shikawatari (Deer Crossing) consists of poetic images of wild animals and snowy landscapes.

While travelling through the wilderness in Dōtō, I encountered a herd of deer crossing the frozen lake in a row, silently. While gazing at the herd, I found a providential, beautiful law of nature, and I felt as though I had witnessed something sacred which is a part of nature. The wilderness of “Dōtō” provides a feeling of oneness with the majestic natural world that I had never before experienced.

Chieko Shiraishi