DIGITAL UP MAGAZINE GARDENS Contrary to previous series, Maruyama’s garden photographs are dark, rich in colour and subtle in movement. Large scale images try to represent a Zen garden, or more accurately the feeling Shinichi Maruyama gets from Zen gardens: »It is said that a Zen garden represents, in a three dimensional space, the spirits of high priests who have achieved enlightenment.« The Zen garden is the expression of boundless cosmic beauty in a physical environment, created through intense human concentration, labour and repeated action. One can attain a feeling of serenity by simply being in the space of a Zen garden. It is its own universe, empowering the visitor to resist temptation, eliminate negative thought, and sever the continuous stream of inessential information emanating from the outside world. »I have tried to represent this feeling I get from Zen gardens in my artwork. Although I am still far from those enlightened monks who labour in nature, my actions of repeatedly throwing liquid into the air and photographing the resulting shapes and sculptural formations over and over – endlessly – could be considered a form of spiritual practice to find personal enlightenment.« DigitalUP [ 57 ]