“ Abeille au coeur des fleurs

Flowers in the gardens

Gardens entourés de murs en terre

Murs dans les villages

Villages in the heart of Japan

Japan in the world

Monde au sein des dieux

Now, now… les dieux

Au coeur des frêles beilles ”

—Misuzu Kaneko

(“The bees in the heart of the flowers

Flowers in the gardens

Gardens surrounded by earthen walls

Walls of a village

Villages in the heart of Japan

Japan in the world

The world inside the gods

Then, then… the gods

In the heart of the fragile bees")

This poem by Misuzu Kaneko, a Japanese poet of the early twentieth century, inspired Rinko Kawauchi to create this new book. Paying homage to this author, the photographer explores our relationship with the world - hence M/E: Mother Earth -, encouraging us to reconsider our connections as human beings with nature. The book presents a dialogue between images from Iceland and Japan, focused above all on water: clouds, rain, rainbows, ice, snow, streams, fog. The images are printed on very fine Japanese paper and reveal themselves gradually. White pages, like silences, punctuate the sequences. The cover, however, is sprinkled with silver fragments that reflect the light.