That’s why I’m stressing that none of these projects are going to be cliche. People need to understand that Japan isn’t just about Mt. Fuji and geishas. There’s other layers and I think it’s important to show the complexity of that. And in photography there’s so much interesting work that’s not about the usual people that we know. I think that’s important that that’s driving the project to show the complexities.
Into the Light is the most recent publication by Yusuke Yamatani. In this interview he outlines his inspirations for the work, which vary from fatherhood to playing punk music. He expands on the idea of 'seeing' and 'being seen', as well as the work's connection to shishashin, referred to i-photography.
In this interview with James Bugg and Kristian Häggblom, Okahara discusses the reasons behind his project, the process of creating a traveling/performative artist's book, and how he continues to focus on the idea of finding 'ibasyo' in contemporary Japanese society
In this interview with Dr. Kristian Haggblom and James Bugg, Fuji discusses the background of his project Hiroshima Graph - Rabbits abandon their children, how it fits into a larger ongoing project on similar themes, and how it relates and differs to his successful 2014 book Red String.
In this interview with Dr. Kristian Haggblom, Obara discusses the aftermath of the release of his award winning book. He also lets us in on his new Chernobyl project, and further explores Asian war atrocities through his new projects.
I’m really interested in different ways to show and display images. In the present digital era, photography is not a medium to presented on paper alone. Now we have to think devotedly about how to display images, and even bigger questions, such as what is photography? These new ways of thinking about and questioning photography influence and inspire my dedication to presentation and detail.
Well, it’s difficult to explain in English. As a volunteer for blind people, I had to tell them what I could see in detail with no subjectivity. For example, “there are trees 5 metres in front of us, there is 6 steps downstairs/upstairs, two cars are passing so we have to stop here, etc.” It was like phenomenology and I think this influences me more than Zen. Blindness interests me and these experiences influenced both A Tree of Night and Semicircle Law.
Kazuma Obara's Silent Histories is a delicate and complex look at the devastation of war. In this interview with Dr. Kristian Haggblom, Obara discusses the origins and process behind the creation of his first photobook, and the intricacies of telling the story of a hidden generation of Japanese people.
In this interview, Shingo Kanagawa speaks about the process behind his well received book Father, the motivation behind it and continuation of the project. He also kindly shares with us some images from an upcoming project about his aunty, and touches on his plans to explore the idea of faith.