Page 33 - BSAM 2018 Q1

photographs focus on parts in ways that heighten appreciation and stimulate reflection. Figure 10 focuses on abstract form in a manner reminiscent of a Franz Klein painting, while in Figure 11, we are drawn to the capacity of texture to denote age and connote struggle. e nal three images that I would like to highlight, evoke very different but equally affecting emotional responses. The images of the white pine, Figures 12 and 13, present this famous tree that survived the bombing of Hiroshima—a gi of the Yamaki family—speak of the alternative realities that so o en coexist in our emotional experience. Figure 12 conveys incredible strength and resolve. It is powerful and enduring, both because of its history of survival and because it also is symbolic of the monu- mentally healing power of human generosity and forgiveness. Figure 13 is one of the most powerfully a ecting images I have encountered. e bark spoke
to me of something beyond adversity, of su ering. In Training begins with a haiku. A form in which the richness of what is unsaid, of sparseness and ellipsis, is as powerful as what is said. e choice for the nal image in the book, Figure 14, is simply inspired. With its ethereal beauty it is the perfect complement to Hagedorn’s poetic a erward.
Reactions to this work have been unlike those that I have encountered. Readers speak of feelings and insights, of the emotive as well as the cognitive. ey connect to di erent aspects of the experience of these images, of these bonsai. As I pondered this work, it occurred to me just how thoroughly meditative my experience was. Hence the title “Are they, the images, meditations?” I will also admit to asking, with no particular spirituality in mind “Are they prayers?”
The famous white pine that survived the bombing of Hiroshima, a gift of the Yamaki family, conveys strength and resolve.
Preceding page, top; Figure 11 Cedrus atlantica/Blue Atlas
Cedar
In training since 1976
Preceding page, bottom and this page, top; Figures 12 and 13
Pinus parvi ora “Miyajima”/ Japanese White Pine
Bottom; Figure 14 Kusamono/Sumac Accent
plant
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