Auckland

In favor of any philosophy that cherishes the humble and the flawed,
I raise my wonky little sake cup to Wabi Sabi and cheer the ethos that recognises greatness in the inconspicuous, joy in the imperfect.

This Japanese aesthetic inspires a truly beautiful exhibition about to open at Black Asterisk Gallery.

Emma Bass gathered flowers from friends’ gardens and roadside verges, arranged them unfussily in vintage vases and photographed them in the stairwell of her home, between jobs, children underfoot.

She caught them bruised, drooping, past perfect, on the petal-dropping turn.

What emerges are huge, serene portraits of flowers that attest to true life in awkward, blemished, wistful, fragile, Imperfect loveliness.