Nameless Story
Photos are strange charming. Nowadays, just about everybody takes pictures most of these mass-produced pieces are so-called souvenir shots.
It has been nearly 180 years since photography started its history. In the recent years, a style called vernacular photography attracted attention now there is even a method called found photography in uenced from it, creating artistic work by using photos that already exist. These days, there are photographers who do not take pictures; they actually make art by using numerous photographs from the Internet. In this current situation, there is a possibility that any kind of photo may become an artwork. In other words, for those engaged in photography as a profession, it is inevitable to pay attention to the over owing pieces of photos streaming in this world.
In the frame called art, perhaps it is now old fashioned to record a subject by using a camera. Still, it is a fact that one of the biggest appeals about photography is to be able to cease the moment even after time passes. If a personal record such as commemorative photos has the potential of becoming art, I believe the power of photography itself is still strong. As time ticks away, photos gain strength they become more than a personal data. By the time passes, the onomasticon of the subject fades it becomes something that represents the presence. So like a time bomb, a random photograph shot today perhaps someday will give itself numerous meanings attractiveness eventually explode its talent as an artwork.
In the year 2011, a big earthquake hit Japan. One month after, I went volunteered to clean the households of the damaged area. While the volunteers shoveled out the mud outside, the residents sorted out what to dispose what not to dispose inside the house. If the tsunami did not hit the area, all of their possessions would have remained where they belonged. Sorting was a di cult task for them, but they had to set their mind to do it. During the procedure, many photos were found but most of them were sent to the save-box. Even if they were covered with dirt, the locals could not dispose them. That is when I realized that photos seized people’s daily lives at the same time, I became certain that they might become a treasure for people. If this is the case, I asked myself, what should I capture in my pictures?
In the year 2000, I wondered about my style of photography what I could express with it; this brainstorming led me to think about individuality came up with a conclusion that there are two aspects to establish a person. One aspect is character by nature: the other is fostered by living life. Most notably, in uences from meeting people throughout life are big. That said, I gathered fteen friends whom I thought in uenced me, gave each of them individual themes shot two portraits of them. I buried one in the snow I dropped the other into a river; I made them do all sorts of crazy things. I came upon their themes by thumbing through our old photos together. To express my way of photography, I wanted to show the old photo the new portrait next to each other as one piece, but at the time, my lack of ability unabled me to do so.
When I think about what to leave in a piece of photo, I now know I want to capture the generation that I have lived in with my own voice. Fifteen years has past once more, I gathered those fteen portraits memorable knickknacks from the fteen models again, gave each of them a theme a location to shoot so I could show what kind of lives they have spent until this day.
Most of the objects that appear in the portraits are just props that add color to their very personal stories. But perhaps in the future, every detail of the portraits will tell what kind of generation I have lived through.?
Ryota Katsukura