Flower Punk

It’s the eccentric flower sculptures that steal the show in this portrait of Japanese artist Azuma Makoto. He first came to Tokyo with his punk rock band, but it was through a job at a flower market that he discovered the expressive and emotional power of flowers. For Makoto, music and flowers are “the same tool to express myself.”

Starting out on this new path was difficult at first, but working together with his photographer friend he created the bold, slightly absurd and sometimes humorous body of work that has made him famous all over the world.

Makoto talks about his inspirations and motivations, accompanied by scenes in his lab-like studio, footage featuring spectacular past projects, and a lively visit to his family in rural Fukuoka. He has sent his flowers up into the sky and down into the depths of the ocean. What he thinks about most, though, is the massive impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and how flowers are a reflection on nature and transience, on life and death.