1974 Born in Kanagawa, Japan
2000-2001 Tokyo College of Photography
2001 Assistant to Katsuji Takasaki
2002 Start working as a Freelance
Solo Exhibition
Dec 2021 "remembrance" YOSEIDO(Tokyo)
July 2019 "水蛇龍" TokyoArtsGallery(Tokyo)
Jan.2019 “MOON” Vanilla Gallery(Tokyo)
Dec.2018 “BREATH” Dance house golden 4422(Nagoya)
May.2018 “BREATH” Micheko Galerie (Munich)
Oct.2016 "WAVE" Gallery Kogure (NY)
Jan.2019 “MOON” Vanilla Gallery(Tokyo)
Dec.2018 “BREATH” Dance house golden 4422(Nagoya)
May.2018 “BREATH” Micheko Galerie (Munich)
Oct.2016 "WAVE" Gallery Kogure (NY)
Aug.2016 "WAVE" LOWER AKIHABARA. (Tokyo)
Aug.2016 "OCEAN" Hotel & Residence Roppongi (Tokyo)
May.2016 "BREATH" Toyama Glass Art Museum (Toyoma)
May.2016 "BREATH" Toyama Glass Art Museum (Toyoma)
July.2015 “BREATH - MOON ”Vanilla Gallery(Tokyo)
May.2015 “CYCLE” Micheko Galerie (Munich)
Mar.2015 "BREATH" Soiz Galerie (Passau)
Nov.2013 “BREATH” Tokyo Arts Gallery（Tokyo）
Oct.2013 “MOON” GALLERY KOGURE(Tokyo)
July.2013 “BREATH” Alternative Space in SEIBU Shibuya (Tokyo)
Jun.2012 “BREATH”&”MOON” Micheko Galerie (Munich)
Jan.2012 “CYCLE” Gallery.Hutch(Tokyo)
July.2010 “BREATH” Micheko Galerie (Munich)
Mar.2010 “BREATH” LOWER AKIHABARA.(Tokyo)
Group Exhibition
Sep.2022 "icon contemporary Photography" AXIS Gallery(Tokyo)
Dec.2021 "icon contemporary Photography" Tanakayaesu Gallery(Tokyo)
July.2020 "Paradise Lost" Vanilla Gallery(Tokyo)
Mar.2019 ”Japanese Nudes” Japanmuseum SieboldHuis (Leiden)
Aug.2018 “Jin-Zo” Emon Gallery (Tokyo)
May.2018 “FINE LINE” sansiao Gallery HK(HongKong)
Jun.2017 "Waves and Emotions" Micheko Galerie (Munich)
July.2017 “GOTH II - Conception” Vanilla Gallery(Tokyo)
Feb.2015 “DROPS” H.P.FRANCE WINDOW GALLERY MARUNOUCHI（Tokyo）
Aug.2018 “Jin-Zo” Emon Gallery (Tokyo)
May.2018 “FINE LINE” sansiao Gallery HK(HongKong)
Jun.2017 "Waves and Emotions" Micheko Galerie (Munich)
July.2017 “GOTH II - Conception” Vanilla Gallery(Tokyo)
Feb.2015 “DROPS” H.P.FRANCE WINDOW GALLERY MARUNOUCHI（Tokyo）
Nov.2013 "Mujo-kan" Galerie Da-End (Paris)
Awards
Moscow International Foto Awards 2014 Bronze in a Book - Fine Art for “BREATH”
International Photography Awards 2012 2nd place in People (other) for "MOON”
PX3 PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS 2010 2nd place in Fine art (nudes) for "BREATH"
Xto image award 2010 1st place in Body in Nature for “BREATH”
International Photography Awards 2009 2nd place in Special (moving images) for "BREATH”
International Photography Awards 2009 1st place in People (other) for "BREATH”
PX3 PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS "WATER" Competition 2008 Honorable Mentions for "WAVE"&"BREATH"
International Photography Awards 2007 1st place for "WAVE”
Artist’s statement
生と死は表と裏であり、生が終わると死が訪れる。この世に生きる人間たちは誰一人例外なく死を迎え、そこから逃れることはできない。医学が発展し、宗教家たちが死生観を語り、それぞれがいかに思いを馳せても、死とは何かという明確な答えにたどり着くことはない。人々は死を恐れ、そこから逃れようともがき続けている。
生き続けるために人間は、様々なものを育てては摘み取って、死を切り刻んで食さないといけない。
動物だろうが植物だろうが、ひたすらに育てては摘み取って、手の中に生と死を感じながら生きる以外には人間は存在することすらできない。聖職者だろうが政治家だろうがなんだろうが、どんなにきれいなことを語っても、素晴らしいとされることを説いても、それでも何かしらかの死を手の中にたくさんつみとって、自分に取り込んで生きている。
キレイなことをかたりたいという理想と、自分たちが生きるために結局何かの命を摘み取らないといけないという事実のいまいち一致しない矛盾が、実は人間の本質に迫れる真理なのかもしれない。
しかし結局そこに答えなんてものはなく、気が付いていたとしてもどうすることもできるものではない。誰かに自分の疑問を押し付けることはさらに無駄なことであり、肉を調理しておいしく食することも、動物よりも植物の命の方がたやすく摘み取れるという感覚に傾倒するのもそれぞれの命において自分を落とし込むすべであり、どれが正しいなどということは決められないし、決めるべきものでもない。
作品の舞台に使う「水」は、そんな人間の生活においてさらに欠かせないものである一方で、人間たちの生命をいとも簡単に奪ってしまうものでもある。被写体と一緒に水中で撮影をすることで、それぞれの生死のはざまと、自分の生死のはざまを重ね合わせ、ギリギリの一瞬を写真におさめていく。
水中というだけですでに非日常の中であり、そのさらに生命維持の限界を追求して撮影された写真たちの中には、まさに苦しい表情をとらえたものや、不思議なことに安らかに微笑んでいるようなものまで幅広い。
お互いの限界を水中で高め合って、撮影を行う、と言ってしまえば簡単なように聞こえるかもしれないが、命を守るために細心の注意を払わないといけない中で、限界までアイデアや頭の中をフルに表現するためにどうすればいいのかということはもちろん、撮影の際にどうしても発生する気泡や、限られた人間の動作性、反射する光や波の動きのすべてにおいて計算しなければならない。細かくシミュレーションを行って撮影をしていても、現場で起きる不確定なモノに結果が左右されてしまうことも少なくないが、そこで発生する「偶然」すらも、予定の中にあるのである。
Life and death are two sides of the same coin: when life ends, death comes. Every single human being in this world, without exception, faces death and there is no escape from it. No matter how much medical science develops, how much religious people talk about their views on life and death, and how much each of us thinks about it, we will never reach a clear answer to the question of what death is. People fear death and continue to struggle to escape it.
In order to stay alive, people have to grow and pluck various things and cut up death to eat.
Whether it is an animal or a plant, man cannot even exist except to live with life and death in his hands, by raising and plucking them with a single-minded devotion. No matter whether you are a clergyman, a politician or anything else, no matter how many beautiful things you talk about or preach about, you still have to pick up a lot of death in your hands, take it into yourself and live.
The contradiction between the ideal of wanting to talk about beautiful things and the fact that we have to pick up some life in order to live may in fact be a truth that brings us closer to the essence of human nature.
But in the end there is no answer there, and there is nothing we can do about it even if we were aware of it. It is even more futile to impose one's doubts on someone else, and it is a way to bring oneself down in each life, whether it is to cook meat and eat it well, or to be devoted to the feeling that plant life is easier to pick than animal life, and one cannot and should not decide which is right. It cannot and should not be decided which is right.
The 'water' used as a stage for the work is an even more indispensable part of human life, but at the same time it is something that can easily take away our lives. By photographing underwater with his subjects, he overlaps the gap between life and death for each of them with his own life and death, capturing moments at the very edge of life and death.
The very act of being underwater is already an extraordinary experience, and the photographs taken in pursuit of the limits of life support range from those that capture the most painful expressions to those that seem to smile in peace, strangely enough.
It may sound simple to say that we push each other's limits underwater and shoot each other, but it is not only about how to fully express our ideas and minds to the limit while we have to be extremely careful to preserve life, but also about the inevitable Air bubbles, limited human mobility, reflected light and the movement of waves all have to be calculated. Even after detailed simulation and filming, the result is often influenced by the uncertain things that happen on site, but even the 'coincidences' that occur there are part of the plan.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator