Japanese micro-season: Mushi kakurete to o fusagu (蟄虫坏戸)

Meaning: Insects hole up underground

This moment marks the transition into autumn when insects retreat underground as temperatures begin to fall. The visible life of the landscape slowly withdraws as nature prepares for winter.

Rigden interprets this seasonal turning inward through darker tones and quieter movement within the composition. The painting conveys the sense of the landscape closing down and holding its energy in reserve for the coming cold months.

Micro Season

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.