TITLE: ETHER

When I visit the botanical garden, I am always captivated by the immense
glass domes. Inside these domes, the air is warm and humid, completely
different from the outside, and it feels comfortable and refreshing to me.
Despite the challenges of photographing in this moist and dimly lit
environment, I find myself becoming increasingly enthusiastic. The
moment I gaze through the viewfinder at the veined leaves and press the
shutter, I feel as if something within me awakens.
Aristotle's concept of the four elements posits that all matter in the world
is composed of four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. He further
proposed that the heavens are composed of a fifth element, which he called
"ETHER." This ETHER is an ever-glowing substance, different from
earthly matter, representing the radiant atmosphere that perpetually fills
the heavens.
I imagine the presence of ETHER in the air drifting within the greenhouse.
This glowing atmosphere, the upper layer of hot and humid air, quietly
overlooks the plants as they undergo their cycles of reincarnation. This
series was conceived with the idea that the ETHER shining in the sky
illuminates the life of the greenhouse plants, creating portraits of plants
enveloped in ETHER. Even within the greenhouse environment, plants
are surrounded by light, continually performing photosynthesis to fulfill
their life cycle.
Much like medieval alchemists who endeavored to create gold through
chemical means, my darkroom work becomes a process of experimentation
and trial and error. In the darkroom, I wait for the moment when the
captured plants begin to glow as if emerging from the water, as the
ETHER fills the space.

AUTHOR: Keiko Takamura (Japan)

Born in Tokyo. Working with a film camera, she carries out the entire silver‑gelatin process herself, from developing the film to printing on fiber-based paper. Through her commitment to working with silver‑gelatin prints in water, she explores ways of expressing humidity. This pursuit leads to the theme of water as the source of life and connects to memories of amniotic fluid before birth.
Her primary subjects are architecture and plants, and she photographs with the perspective that all human‑made things, including architecture, can be regarded as part of the natural world. She continues to create works that examine the layered experiences and identities accumulated within each place.

Major Exhibitions and Recognitions

2025　 Honorable Mention, Architecture Master Prize
2025　 Silver, Prix de la Photographie de Paris
2025　 Honorable Mention, International photography awards
2025　 Honorable Mention, Mono Visions photography awards
2025　 Selected for exhibition at Glasgow Gallery of Photography
2025　 Selected for exhibition at Urban Photo Awards
2025　Kiyosato Museum Photographic Arts (Kiyosato, Japan/ Outdoor Group Photo Exhibition)
2025　 SKM PHOTO（Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Taipei City）
2024 FOTOZOFIO OFFLINE 2024 ARLES　（café japone,
Arles, France/ slide show）
2024　 Selected as one of 17 artists for FOTOZOFIO (Kyoto Station Wall,
Kyoto)
2024　 “Rippling light” Jam Photo Gallery（Meguro, Tokyo/ solo exhibition）
2023　 “Urban buoyancy” Gallery Solaris（Osaka / solo exhibition)
2023　 “Urban buoyancy” Place M (Shinjuku Gyoenmae, Tokyo / solo
exhibition)
2022　 Customer Award Winner, Art Gallery M84
2021　 Accepted into Art Sacré（St Nicholas Church, Compiègne, France）
2021　 “ETHER 2021” space2*3 (Nihonbashi, Tokyo / solo exhibition)
2020　 “Floating Humidity” Place M (Shinjuku Gyoenmae, Tokyo / solo
exhibition)
2019　 Accepted into Art Sacré (Saint-Pierre Church, Saint-Lys, France)

Participated in many other group exhibitions.