Tatesuna, Kamigamo-jinja, Kyoto, Japan, 2012

These are two large sand cones that flank the entrance to the main shrine building of the Kamigamo Jinja shrine.  Dating back to 678 AD, it is one of the oldest shrines in Japan, and the oldest in Kyoto. Known as Tatesuna, the two cones are believed to reference the landscape to the north of the shrine.  While their positioning within the shrine is said to symbolize the days when there were no shrine buildings, the pine needles on top of the cone represent the pine forest of Koyama, a sacred place where no one was to allowed to go.

I have visited this garden many times over many years and I am continually struck   that the Tatesuna are perhaps the most interesting structure in the temple complex.  They are utterly simple in form yet complex in execution and meaning of which, I believe, gives them their poetic power.  I photographed them because I liked how they looked, but more importantly to me, I like how they looked photographed. The concept “nothingness” or mu and the Seijaku, or the attainment of stillness, the guiding principals behind the Tatesuna, are somewhat obscured as a three dimensional experience. When photographed, however, all the non-essential elements, the background noise and clutter, can be erased thereby bringing it back closer to it’s original concept.  

-David Burdeny

David Burdeny initiated his career with the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery in 2001 and has been exhibiting his images from the world over, including Antarctica, Iceland, Brazil, China, Burma, Cambodia, France, Italy, Canada and the USA. Known for his finely composed photographs, Burdeny has spent the past 25 years exploring a variegated photographic Landscape ranging from minimal seascapes, ornate European interiors to abstract aerial images. Widely collected in Canada, the USA, Asia and Europe, the sheer beauty of David’s images has firmly placed him within the realm of Canada’s most sought after photo-based artists. Burdeny has an innate curiosity for new subjects and themes, producing over 20 themed photographic series. Be it mounting a camera beneath a self-built drone, shooting from the deck of an Antarctic bound icebreaker, or waiting for an ocean tide to advance, he faithfully embeds his own formal signature into each and every image, further expressing a life long passion for the built environment and the camera’s interpretation of it.

David Burdeny’s Masters in Architecture and Interior Design background combined with his upbringing in the vast Canadian prairies provides the template for his keen technical ability, enduring patience and minimalist aesthetic.