Ashide - A Second Nature
Ashide - Selected by "The Times" as No.1 exhibition Nationwide
(The Knowledge 25/03/06 p37)
'Ashide - A Second Nature' is a collection of high quality, impressionistic photographs, including innovative panoramas, by Carol Ballenger and related haiku by John Powls themed around Japanese style gardens in England. In the creative process of developing the final collection the haiku, the photographs and the gardens iterate and respond with each other. It will be published, eventually, as a book but will first be exhibited and e-published via this site.
Ashide is a style of Japanese poem from the 11th century Heian era where calligraphic interpretations of a poem are woven into a watercolour garden illustration, for example in the sweep of a plant stem. Similar presentational effects will be achieved in this collection.
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| www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp |
'Ashide - A Second Nature' has the active support of the Japanese Garden Society and the Cultural Section of the Japanese Embassy. An award winning 'flagship' exhibition was held at the Japanese Embassy in Piccadilly in Spring 2006 and the exhibition is now touring in the UK; please see local press for details.
John has performed the haiku at exhibitions of the collection working with Mike McInerney an exponent of the shakuhachi Japanese flute.
Carol and John have produced 2 successful collaborations of photographs and poetry. 'Dartmoor Dreams' and the most recent 'Stone Universe' (Halsgrove 2001) which took a similar, exciting but accessible approach to interpreting the theme of Dartmoor.