Photographing Wabi Sabi by Lisa Cuchara
Wabi-Sabi
This program will explore the beauty of imperfect and/or unconventional subjects. As nature photographers we often seek out the flowers, leaves and such that are perfect, with no blemishes or defects. This program highlights subjects that are not perfect, such as flowers that have character, double headed flowers, decaying fall leaves, the deformed coneflower that stands out as flawed and hence different and beautiful, rust as it creates abstract patterns amidst the decay, etc. We will also explore the concept of slowing down and appreciating the beauty of everyday life, things that might be overlooked. As purveyors of rust and decay we appreciate the perseverance and beauty of “life after humans” as cars and equipment falls apart and succumbs to oxidation and decay. Wabi-Sabi teaches us to find beauty in everyday life. It is a kind of anti-aesthetic, an alternative to the dominating discriminatory ideas we hold about beauty. “Wabi means a beauty of elegant imperfection. Sabi means aloneness. Together, they suggest the beauty of ‘the withered, weathered, tarnished, scarred, intimate, coarse, earthly, evanescent, tentative, ephemeral.’ ~ Crispin Sartwell, Six Names of Beauty. It is a way of honoring that everything is impermanent, and we are always in a state of both becoming and falling away. It is used to describe a particular philosophy that beauty can be found in the old, the everyday, the imperfect. Wabi Sabi applies to more than nature and the seasons of change and decay, but it also to the “Life after Humans” arena or UrbEx (urban exploration). As a side note, the term Wabi Sabi can also be part of the social movement of embracing imperfection of your physical traits as a human being, especially with respect to self-perception and celebrating imperfection in a society that encourages people to be perfect and pressures people to be flawless. https://www.photographybylisaandtom.com
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