Rita Bernstein and Wabi-sabi

Rita Bernstein

Rita Bernstein uses a combination of photography and weathering techniques to create a weathered effect that dulls the photo giving the appearance of an aging photo, her photos are almost always in black and white. her subjects are typically young people but does sometimes use older subjects and landscapes, the reason for her choice in subject is her attempt to explore the sorrows and sweetness of family life despite this never really being her intention to study childhood specifically, her works purpose is also to show the links between adults and children and how childish motive spill into adulthood. as many pieces of art do the artists work is created to evoke an emotion that most people can relate to at some point their life. the process of creating these images involves the careful application of silver emulsion to handmade paper in a darkroom to show best the "the imperfect, the messy, the raw, and the vulnerable", this process is long and difficult casing many failed pieces. Rita Bernstein has been taking photos since early 1990s not long after leaving her job as a civil rights lawyer so toward the beginning of her career she mainly used her two children in her pictures.

Wabi-sabi

this is the appreciation of things that are imperfect and to embrace all things as beautiful despite any damage or imperfections as people who use wabi-sabi as a guide see these things as equally beautiful due to the history displayed in the objects. wabi-sabi is also considered as a way of living as it allows the person to see all things as beautiful as it is the will of the earth to allow things to bloom before decaying to bloom again. a common example of wabi-sabi is the clay bowls that were used for everyday purposes and become cracked and worn because of this, and to emphasise the beauty in the imperfections the cracks are filled with lacquer mixed with gold/silver dust, this process is known as "kintsukuroi (金繕い)" meaning "gold mending". other means of wabi sabi can include photography of subjects that are flawed in some way, such as a cracked pavement to a worn house filled with bare brickwork, wooden beams and peeling wall paper.