Since high school, I have been very interested in different philosophical thinking about the relationships between humans and nature. After exploring and photographing the urban landscapes of Tokyo, Japan, I found that cities have many natural landscapes interacting with the artificial structures in an obvious but subtle way, ranging from charming cherry blossoms and plants around buildings to green landscapes outside of courtyard windows. My project records that city dwellers share many moments with nature in so-called ‘man-made’ space. With Nature indirectly reflects my thinking on the balance between humans and nature through the two seemingly opposite symbols of architecture and plants. In my photography series, I have created strong colour treatment; a combination of different angles of buildings and plants; and deliberately exaggerated geometric features of architecture. Through these interventions, I try to express my personal views and experimental thinking, which is about the extreme balance between human living spaces and nature represented by architecture and plants. In the photographs, the glowing sky, the cool tone of buildings and the green of plants are blended to create a dreamlike effect. As a utopian expression of idealism, my artworks present my imagination of an extremely perfect relationship. Human beings are no longer at the centre of all things, and nature is no longer mysterious and distant. They interact and influence each other in urban space, breathing and dreaming together. The city is the co-creation of man-made and nature.

With Nature, 2020
Digital image

Jinke Chen’s website