Current
Presented by Sony World Photography Awards
- Dates
- Friday, October 31 - Thursday, November 6, 2025 11:00～19:00
The Sony World Photography Awards, supported by Sony since 2007, is one of the world's largest photography competitions, established with the aim of fostering the ongoing development of photographic culture.
The Awards comprise four competitions: the Professional (10 categories), Open (10 categories), Youth (under 19), and Student, providing a platform for photographers across different career stages and artistic genres. In addition, the program recognises individuals and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to photography through the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award and celebrates local talent worldwide through the National & Regional Awards.
Now in its 18th edition, the Awards are widely recognised as a stage for both emerging and established photographers, offering invaluable opportunities for global exposure and career advancement.
This exhibition presents the work of Seido Kino, 1st Place winner in the Landscape category, Professional competition, at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025.
Seido Kino Profile
In Japanese, there exists a word, Fū-do (風土). While its characters literally mean "wind" (fū) and "soil" (do), together they signify something far more layered: the climate, topography and geology of a place, as well as the customs and culture that arise from them, or even the atmosphere and practices of a community itself. It is a concept that resists translation into a single English word, perhaps reflecting a distinctly Japanese way of perceiving nature.
Japan, surrounded by the sea and exposed to wind and rain, is both humid and fertile, yet also prone to frequent natural disasters. We cannot manipulate nature; we can only seek consensus. Human beings and nature are inseparable, each existing as equal constituents of the world. The subtle negotiations and complex interrelations between them are woven into the fabric of Fū-do. One might imagine it as a sheet of paper or a piece of cloth, densely interlaced with living beings and natural forces. In Shimane Prefecture (western Japan), this was embodied in ways of life such as rice cultivation and the ancient Tatara ironworking tradition.
As I travelled from Tokyo to photograph, I did not merely skim the surface of Shimane's Fū-do; I slipped into its frayed seams, at times becoming entangled within. With curiosity and a spirit of adventure—like peering through a microscope to discover that a flat sheet of paper or cloth is in fact a terrain of ridges and valleys—I sought to record both the region's allure and its challenges. In doing so, I found myself tracing the intricate weave of patterns of Shimane's Fū-do revealed as light falls upon it.
Seido Kino