By Chloe Jung ’27
‘mono no aware.’
From December 23, 2024 to January 13, 2025, as I traveled the expanse of mainland Japan and the small island of Okinawa, I employed this nebulous yet poignant Japanese aesthetic philosophy as a lens through which to explore the cultural, urban, and natural landscape that I saw before me. Roughly translated to “the pathos of things,” mono no aware essentially refers to the transience of nature that mirrors the transience of all things, including humanity. First coined by literary critic Motoori Norinaga (1730 – 1801), it became a way to express that, despite the finite lifespan of all things, there is true beauty in the ephemeral and impermanent. In order to make my own artistic understanding of mono no aware digestible, I utilized the resources provided by the CC Darkroom Club to capture and compile black and white film photos presenting the themes of the philosophy as they appeared to me over the course of the trip. This visual portfolio represents the many ways I saw mono no aware in Japan over those three weeks.
I would like to thank Colorado College and the Keller Family for providing the funds that made this research project possible. I am immensely grateful for the support of my academic faculty advisor throughout this research project. I hope that this project will inspire students to pursue their own curiosities with enthusiasm and wonder. Further information on this Venture Grant can be found at arcg.is/1C1ubD0.
