Negative Ecology
by Tamaki Yoshida

 
 
Perhaps hidden in the shadows of major environmental destruction, wastewater from our daily lives, accompanied by chemical substances that we discharge without special awareness, may be accumulating and affecting the natural world without our noticing. Based on this question, negative films taken of unprotected creatures called "vermin" that live in close proximity to people's daily lives were mixed with chemicals such as detergents, lotions, and toothpaste used daily and developed.
As a result, the unevenness of the negative film, created by the contamination and destruction of the chemicals, loomed over me as if it were a threat to the wild world reflected in the film.
Am I unknowingly contaminating nature far removed from my own life? To express this question, I photographed in a rich natural environment 1,000 kilometers away from where I live and brought the film home to develop. The resulting negative film exists as a metaphor for wildlife and nature that may have been damaged. However, the images that emerge from this chemically damaged negative film appear to us as bewitching, yet beautiful. They are strong and live in the shadow of various environmental destruction, but they are also changing in a subtle way. These may be the images of living creatures that stand lively even at the end of the earth we have used up. Perhaps our actions are merely pushing ourselves into a corner as a result.
 

Tamaki Yoshida lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.
To view more of Tamaki Yoshida 's work, please visit her Instagram.