Jacqueline Hassink: View, Kyoto On Japanese Gardens and Temples

Artfully abstracted images of nature from the monastery gardens of Kyoto—featuring views from within the Imperial City, some shown here for the very first time. Captivated by the centuries-old Buddhist temple complexes of Kyoto, the Dutch photographic artist Jacqueline Hassink (b. 1966 in Enschede) embarked on a multi-part, beguilingly beautiful series in which she explores how interior and exterior spaces within these architectural settings interpenetrate or stand in opposition to one another. She photographed outward from within the structures into the open air—into the surrounding traditional Japanese gardens—assigning equal weight to both realms. At two of the temples, she was granted permission to slide aside the paper partition walls, thereby creating vast, entirely new spatial configurations. Another focal point of the series is the moss gardens of Saiho-ji and the cherry blossoms of Haradani-in. Their ever-changing vistas—shifting with the seasons, and which Hassink describes as "living sculptures"—embody a Japanese aesthetic that perceives in cultivated gardens both an artistic microcosm of nature and a representation of paradise.