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Go There (signed)

by Gen Sakuma

Photographs: Gen Sakuma

Publisher: Roshin Books

80 pages pages

Pictures: 67 black & white plates

Year: 2014

ISBN: 978-4-9907230-1-9

Price: 60 €

Comments: first edition of 600 copies, embossed cloth covered hardcover, H 225mm × W 300mm, Japanese & English book design ; Katsuya Kato

For me, wandering the streets, pointing my camera and pressing the shutter button an what I encounter here, may be quite like how I collected insects as a young child, absorbed in the hunt until past sundown. Instead of the insects I once hunted, now the people and things I encounter throughout the city, are caught in the finder of the camera I hold in place of the insect net, capturing them onto film. I keep walking, in order to come upon such scenes. I walk as if to crawl through Tokyo streets. What does "There" in the title point to? It may be here where we are now, or it may be elsewhere. Who knows wether there is any meaning in continuing this haphazard shooting. But I do believe that in continuing, I may eventually arrive "there". And so I keep walking.

In the darkroom, I develop the film from scenes I've collected and imprint them onto photographic paper. The act is akin to that of mounting collected insects and creating specimens. As they emerge slowly in the developing fluid, these scenes all feel more mysterious than the moment I encountered them. Just as each insect specimen I created as a child was a singular treasure belonging only to me, the moment these scenes are manifested on the paper as photographs, they become mine alone. Surely, the world unfurling from the accumulation of these scenes is "There", which I had kept on walking towards: still uncertain, but with its contours gradually coming into clear view.

Gen Sakuma

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look inside

Go There (signed)

by Gen Sakuma

Photographs: Gen Sakuma

Publisher: Roshin Books

80 pages pages

Pictures: 67 black & white plates

Year: 2014

ISBN: 978-4-9907230-1-9

Price: 60 €

Comments: first edition of 600 copies, embossed cloth covered hardcover, H 225mm × W 300mm, Japanese & English book design ; Katsuya Kato

For me, wandering the streets, pointing my camera and pressing the shutter button an what I encounter here, may be quite like how I collected insects as a young child, absorbed in the hunt until past sundown. Instead of the insects I once hunted, now the people and things I encounter throughout the city, are caught in the finder of the camera I hold in place of the insect net, capturing them onto film. I keep walking, in order to come upon such scenes. I walk as if to crawl through Tokyo streets. What does "There" in the title point to? It may be here where we are now, or it may be elsewhere. Who knows wether there is any meaning in continuing this haphazard shooting. But I do believe that in continuing, I may eventually arrive "there". And so I keep walking.

In the darkroom, I develop the film from scenes I've collected and imprint them onto photographic paper. The act is akin to that of mounting collected insects and creating specimens. As they emerge slowly in the developing fluid, these scenes all feel more mysterious than the moment I encountered them. Just as each insect specimen I created as a child was a singular treasure belonging only to me, the moment these scenes are manifested on the paper as photographs, they become mine alone. Surely, the world unfurling from the accumulation of these scenes is "There", which I had kept on walking towards: still uncertain, but with its contours gradually coming into clear view.

Gen Sakuma

more books tagged »Japanese« | >> see all

more books tagged »black and white« | >> see all

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