Born and raised in Tokyo, Sumio Inoue has spent the last twenty years developing a series of works called Silenzioso. Using an extremely original technique, he impresses his photographs on a spongy and creased washi rice paper. They are uneven, like desert dunes rippled by the wind, an ocean surface interwoven with waves or lunar visions with their uncertain and changing choreography. These washi, period-style for the technique and for their oneiric-symbolic evocations, emphasise this by means of a skilful and delicate ‘vintage’ colouring using tree barks and grass. The black impression of the photograph stands out all the more, as it is absorbed in the pores of the washi and in its deep roughness, creating shadows that ‘talk’ to the viewer under the effect of a shining light. While the light varies throughout the day, the shadows alter the surface of the work in a continuous transformation, while it actually remains unchanged. The passing of daylight and its changing intensity in the different seasons gives a sense of the very passing of time to the images, they transform from one season to another with long, slow fluidity.
