Chinmoku: Silence

Chinmoku: Silence was inspired by the novel eponymous title by Endo Shusaku. Chinmoku deals with the struggles of a Jesuit monk in Japan during Kakure Kirishitan ("hidden Christian"), a time of active discrimination against Christians. The novel questions how far one should go in defending one's faith and explores one man's pursuit of a God who - despite his silence - is always present through adversity. In Chinmoku: Silence, I wanted to replicate this quality of questing. The image is rendered in grayscale in order to represent not onlysilence, but also the myriad shades of gray in between black and white. Only a sheer curtain separates the girl (who is indoors) from the outside world, symbolizing the disconnect between reality and the inner mind. While faith is often perceived as purely black and white, the reality is that life presents a variety of confusing gray areas. For those who continue to pursue, this can be a disillusioning experience.