Japanese micro-season: Mimizu izuru (蚯蚓出づる)

Meaning: Earthworms appear

This seasonal moment refers to the warming of the earth when worms and insects begin to emerge from the soil. It marks the quiet awakening of life beneath the ground and the growing vitality of spring.

Rigden’s painting reflects this transformation through layered earthy tones and shifting textures. The surface suggests the subtle energy building within the landscape as hidden life begins to stir beneath the soil.

Imogen Rigden’s exhibition Micro Season takes inspiration from the traditional Japanese calendar of seventy two micro seasons, known as Shichijūni kō (七十二候). Rather than dividing the year into four broad seasons, this ancient system breaks the natural cycle into subtle seasonal moments lasting only a few days.

Each micro season observes a small shift in the natural world. Ice begins to form on streams, butterflies appear in the spring air, or insects retreat underground as autumn approaches.

Rigden adopts this poetic framework as a way of observing the landscapes of northern Europe. Working with water soluble oils, she builds layered paintings that evoke atmosphere, movement and memory rather than literal description. Her works translate fleeting environmental changes into colour, texture and gesture.

Together the paintings form a quiet meditation on time, landscape and the subtle rhythms that shape the natural world.