Working with the traditional platinum–palladium printing process and high-quality Japanese washi paper, Hisako Sakurai created “Adagio Dans La Forêt,” a series of photographs that fluctuate between reality and dreamworld. Set in a dense yet luminous forest, the work centers on a group of emus – birds with “grotesque eyes,” straight from the “age of dinosaurs,” as Sakurai writes in her afterword – photographed in an exploration of their strange, compelling elegance. At one point, a ballet dancer enters the scene, at first barely noticeable; through her poses and dress, she blends almost seamlessly with the emus. As the series unfolds, dancer and birds engage in a quiet dialogue, conveyed entirely through gesture.

“These birds, who chose the ground over the sky in revolution, hold their necks high as if they are tracing memories from the distant past. Dancers defy gravity, striving for more height as they reach for the sky. No words are spoken on stage – the waves of melody carry the dancer, and the dancer’s body becomes the storyteller. The quiet passion depicted by the form instantly invites me to another world.”
― from Hisako Sakurai’s afterword

Hisako SAKURAI was graduated from Parsons The New School for Design, Department of Photography, 1992.