Shikama, Takeshi  Takeshi Shikama, Tokyo, Japan   Takeshi
Shikama, Evanescence –landscape, Platinum Palladium Print, 2009,
13,5 x 13,5cm, edition 15+3   The forest always stands there,
motionless, in total stillness.  This is the image I have always
had of the forest.  Yet, while continuing to make my way through
the folds of trees deep inside the forest, it has dawned upon me
that the forest is, in fact, the home of ever so many silent and
hushed activities. The repeated cycle of the myriads of
organisms cradled in the bosom of Mother Nature, all destined to
be born, eventually to fade into evanescence...  I must have
unknowingly felt this all along, and this probably explains why
I have always been fascinated by the forest.  And now, I find
myself more and more intrigued by the scenes of fleeting moments
of all living things such as plants and flowers about to wither,
and streams of flowing water, or the shadows cast by trees that
I happen to find beneath my feet.  Filled with the desire to
closely observe