“There were always plants put up in the hand-washing area at work. In summer, large ivy crept around the mirror, and in winter, large camellias adorned the place. If you look closely, you can see that the plants were arranged in a free-spirited way, combining flowers from so-called weeds and trees that could be found growing around the place. I wonder who did this…? I wondered, and recorded it every day as I saw it.
One morning when I arrived at work early one day, I asked for the cleaner and she was the one I was looking for. She told me that she had never learnt flower arranging, IKEBANA, and was self-styled, and that she did not buy flowers from a florist but made them from the plants and weeds on the premises, I thought this was her art and continued to record it again.
Eventually, when I retired from work, I decided to present her with a collection of the photographs I had taken. This is her collection.”
A series of timestamped photographs showing the improvised bouquets at the photographer’s workplace, often in empty water bottles or jars, containing with local plants and flowers. A small touch of colour and personality one person decided to bring to an otherwise empty room. With a drawing showing the making of such a bouquet on the front cover.
Sewn, 21 x 15 cm, 22 pages, numbered/100, Tokyo 2021
