For the 2015 edition of KYOTOGRAPHIE, an international photography festival held in Kyoto, we created a striking, site-specific bamboo installation in response to the exhibition’s space and theme. The work was installed in a partially deconstructed Kyoto townhouse in the Shirakawa district — a moment of architectural transition just before its renovation began.
Approximately 300 strips of freshly cut green bamboo were used in this ephemeral piece. Emerging as a tight bundle, the strips gradually dispersed and interwove into the exposed wooden beams of the upper floor, which had become visible due to the building’s partial demolition. The installation responded directly to this revealed geometry, using the structure’s raw, in-between state as both canvas and support.

Twelve bundles of about 25 bamboo strips were fixed to a central core, anchored within the tokonoma alcove on the second floor. The elements were bound together using black-dyed hemp rope, creating a dynamic form that filled the room with tension and motion.
The flowing, wave-like gesture of the bamboo installation resonated deeply with the photographs of Fosco Maraini, whose work captured Ama divers immersed in the sea. This spatial interpretation offered a poetic visual echo — suggesting ripples, currents, and immersion — tying together material, memory, and theme.