This image of Mt. Fuji strikes me as something beautiful, along with many other similar occurrences, as an example of nature's transience. After finding this image I came across a story or belief of the Japanese; they believe that the mountain is the home of a fire god, Shinto, the goddess of flowing trees. In buddhism, a temple for one of the deities of Dainichi, known as Sengen (or Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime, translated to 'Radiant-blooming-as-the-flowers-of-the-trees') the Buddha of All-Illuminating Wisdom, lies at the very highest point of the mountain. The site continues to tell us of the deity and says that in ancient times she would sit on a cloud whilst her invisible servants threw any pilgrims who were not pure of heart into it. This information heightened the sense of beauty in this image for me as it gave rise to ancient Japanese beliefs and religion.
Benteng Chittorgrah Fort in India, in its current state acts as a public place mainly for tourism and travel. The city of Chittorgarh spreads across the edge of a 7mile long hill, covering a 700 acre area in total. The city holds many palaces, towers and temples. Its rich history begins as a gift to the husband of a princess, acting as a dowry gift in the mid 8th century. Chittorgarh's main attraction is gained from its architecture, being a monumental fort built on top of a hill. According to Indian tourism the city is filled with tales of heroism and sacrifice, reflecting the culture and tradition of Rajput. The image above reflects something that I find very interesting and innovative in architecture, and that is the embodiment of its natural surroundings, incorporating the hill side into the structural form of the city.
This is a photo I took myself in Balmain as part of a large series of approximately 30 images from 5 different locations; Balmain, The Rocks, Alexandria, Kurri Kurri and Port Kembla. This project was done for my HSC body of work for visual arts. The series focused on various urban areas and often looked at the dilapidated architecture or nature of the area. I chose this image from the series as standing on its own it remains as one of my favourites of the project as opposed to some of the other images that needed the surrounding images beside it to support its meaning.
Adjective: Inquisitive
Adjective: Isolated
