Hanami Blocks #1 by Gregory Eddi Jones
“Hanami” is a Japanese phrase that refers to a gathering of friends and family around Sakura trees when they are in full bloom. This work superimposes the pursuit of bliss in nature with the consistent utopian promises offered by emergent technology. Via a production method of equal parts rules and chance, Hanami Blocks combines blockchain-native artistic conventions with experimental photographic and print-making practices. Using stock photographs of cherry blossoms as source material, Hanami Blocks undergo both physical and digital editing processes to travel the source material into a virtually native form. Hanami Blocks strives for a screen-native form of artistic presentation, sharing properties of windows and frames emanating with inner glows, and assimilating the image and the media in which it is experienced into a single experience of coalescence. The transformation from what are essentially nature photographs to virtual images mirrors human techno-historical trajectories in which we experience greater and greater layers of technological mediation that separate us from our origins.
Edition: 1 of 1
Commissioned by Obscura
