Since making her photographic debut in 2001 with the simultaneous publication of three books in Japan, Rinko Kawauchi has continued to inspire fascination for her portrayal of the endless cycle of nature.

Photographing minute details from everyday moments that might otherwise pass unnoticed, Kawauchi has shaped a new narrative for photobooks. Images that might seem not so interesting at first glance become an essential component of a continuum when seen alongside its complement. In fact, it is Kawauchi's attention to sequencing and editing that gives her work, whether seen as a book or exhibition, its narrative power. Often close-ups that become abstractions, the quality of light these pictures embody becomes their essence. Selections from her new body of work, aptly titled Illuminance, is being shown here for the first time, at The Gallery at Hermes in New York.

Two images by Rinko Kawauchi from Illuminance. Photographs copyright the artist, courtesy the Gallery at Hermes New York.

Large color prints framed to the edge in white are grouped in pairs for the most part. A rose photographed at night is blasted with flash, making its stately form iconic in its near abstraction. Next to it is a pyramid whose ‘son et lumiere’ effects carve the hard-edged form sharply against the night sky. Together the two images tell of the artist’s almost childlike perspective on looking at the world. In a recent interview, she said that the title Illuminance was chosen “as a metaphor for our life, in which we have different point of views. There are many ways to see our world.”

The cycle of life is evident in various ways, from an image of a miniature frog perched on her grandfather’s hand to a dead sparrow photographed in bright sunlight that casts dark shadows on the white background. The adjacent image, a pyramidical mountain (Mt. Fuji?) framed by rocky outcrops and a lake, echoes the delicate gray palette; the two images seen together create intriguing formal patterns that don’t exist separately. One image hung by itself depicts the moment when a solar eclipse reaches maximum obliteration of the sun’s surface; the only interplay needed here is that of the viewer's gaze.

Illuminance: Photographs by Rinko Kawauchi is on view at the Gallery at Hermes through July 16^th. 691 Madison Avenue, Fourth Floor, NY, NY. The book is available from Aperture. Read the interview on Exposures.