Kata

Kata are rehearsed forms: the same sequence, thousands of times, until it is no longer remembered but simply done. I wanted to photograph the moment where the body stops thinking.

I shot stills at 1/15th of a second so the blade becomes a brushstroke, and a short film at 240 frames a second so a single cut lasts eleven seconds.

The film screened at two festivals; the stills became the Kata edition.