Komorebi

I am fascinated by reflections of light dancing in the wind through trees. One of the simplest and most satisfying moments of magic is stopping to take in the patterns, shapes and textures of sunbeams and plants. My neurodivergent brain finds it deeply satisfying and calming to stare or stim through time spent watching the flickering light.

Why do we not have a word in English for such a beautiful phenomenon?

In Japanese it is known as Komorebi (木漏れ日), which literally translates to "sunlight leaking through trees" and captures the aesthetic and emotional feeling of this specific type of natural light.

video installation

I have explored elements of playful light in my previous video installation pieces ROLL THE DICE; which was commissioned by Art Walk Porty and will feature in Visual Arts Scotland exhibition, The Thread That Pulls, KALEIDOSCOPE; a piece made for a group residents’ show earlier this year at my studios at The Drill Hall and for a Leith Creative Trail commission for Away Industries this winter.

Further exploring this with muslin and calico fabrics, melding the inside domestic world with outdoors, the piece will create a curtain between both. I will gather footage of fauna from the woods, gardens and coast, mixed with footage of dancing and dappled light to build my own Komorebi, which will alter depending on any breeze and the amount of daylight in the exhibition space, encouraging the viewer to slow down and get lost for a moment of deep connection with gathered but chance, moving and ephemeral visual poems.

  • When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, “Stay awhile.” The light flows from their branches. And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say, “and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.

    Mary Oliver

  • Between the world and the word are three small shapes, the signs for “tree,” “escape,” and “sun.” I watch how the light leaks through them, casting a shade in both directions in the late year, on the russet path barred with the shadows of trees. I love how it exults, like any escapee, on the lake in slow reflective waves, in radiant bands ascending the birch trunks according to some unknown frequency, and in the cormorant extending his wet wings to it in a messianic gesture, as if dazzled to absolute by the word and the world’s beauty.

    Caitríona O’Reilly

  • Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, wherever an elm arches, Shivelights and shadowtackle ín long lashes lace, lance, and pair.

    Gerard Manley Hopkins

  • Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green, The night above the dingle starry, Time let me hail and climb Golden in the heydays of his eyes, And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves Trail with daisies and barley Down the rivers of the windfall light.

    Dylan Thomas

FURTHER INFORMATION

ART SHOWS, COMMISSIONS & PUBLICATIONS >>

  • The Thread That Pulls, curated by Visual Arts Scotland. Biennial exhibition at Royal Scottish Academy, National Galleries of Scotland at The Mound, 5 Dec 25-2 Jan 26

  • Leith Creative Trail, video installation commission by Away Industries, running from 29 November 25 25

  • STOP, group show curated by Amy Oliver, The House of Smalls Gallery, Stockbridge, 22 November -20 December 25

  • ROLL THE DICE, video installation with Ailsa Lochhead, commissioned by Art Walk Porty, funded by Creative Scotland, Sept 25

  • Art House 14, with Ailsa Lochhead, mixed media collage and cyanotype exhibition for Art Walk Porty, Sept 25

  • Kaleidoscope, curated by Dan Murray. Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Apr 25

  • My Body Whose Choice? curated by Hello Art. Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Leith. Nov 24

  • HOME; a residents’ showcase, group exhibition curated by Solen Collet, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Leith. Sept 24

  • Art House 8, Portobello Art Walk, solo show curated by Solen Collet, Portobello. Sept 24

  • Nature, curated and hosted by The Glasgow Gallery of Photography. Aug 24

  • Summer Show, curated and hosted by Fox Yard Studio, Stowbridge, Jul 24

  • MUSE, curated and hosted by Fox Yard Studio, Stowbridge. Jun 24

  • Onlne feature on The Mix, invited and curated by Zya Community. Jun 24

  • 30th birthday showcase for Out of the Blue Arts, curated by Out of the Blue Arts, at Drill Hall, Leith. May 24

  • Rolling it Back, group photography exhibition curated by Page Hardie, Sett Studios, Leith. Apr 24

  • Spring Pop Up, a group residents’ exhibition, curated by Felicity Inkpen at The Drill Hall, Mar 24

  • NOW LOVE, solo show curated by Solen, Agitate Edinburgh. Feb-Mar 24

  • A Closer Look, group residents’ exhibition curated by Aoife in Leith, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Oct 23

  • 2 page feature in Issue 2 of The Delicate Rebellion print magazine, published June 2021

  • If She Could She Would, online group exhibition, hosted and curated by Split Milk Gallery. Dec 20-Jan 21.