Photography
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Osorezan Series
The Japanese culture within which I have grown up is based on a wide acceptance of the continuum between life and death. The harsh modernity of my country exists in parallel with the belief that there is not a clear boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Since I was very young I have had the feeling that I have lived my life already, and that I am observing it as it is replayed once more.
I feel that my mind and body are almost separated, united only in a feeling of exhaustion.
The times when I overcome this separation are when I experience images that are able to give me physical and spiritual joy although often these images are those that many people might call ' negative' 'bleak', 'hopeless'.
My new work Series called Osorezan and Goshogawra were both taken in Aomori at the North end of the main Island of Japan.
This is one of the few places in the world where my soul feels pure happiness even though it enhances even more my pointed isolation, the solitude of my life. Sometimes I visit that place in my head as I am lying down on my bed in my London Flat. I feel the echo of the chorus of dead people and children on that mountain, and just to feel that that place exists makes me feel happy. Both Osorezan and Goshogawra are connected to the belief that human spirits go up into the mountains once they die.
Both mountains have a Buddhist temple and are particularly well known for calming the souls of dead children and unborn babies.
Aomori's history of geographical harshness and poverty means that children often died young or that mothers had to abort their children. Osorezan is translated as "Fear Mountain", a name that comes in part from the mountain's exceptional landscape. The area is rich in volcanic activity, and a strong smell of sulphur permeates the air.
Osorezan is also known as an entrance to the afterlife, because it features geographical elements similar to descriptions of Buddhist hell and paradise,including eight surrounding peaks and a river, Sanzu no Kawa, which has to be crossed by all dead souls on their way to the afterlife and is often compared to the River Styx of ancient Greek mythology.
The Japanese culture within which I have grown up is based on a wide acceptance of the continuum between life and death. The harsh modernity of my country exists in parallel with the belief that there is not a clear boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Since I was very young I have had the feeling that I have lived my life already, and that I am observing it as it is replayed once more.
I feel that my mind and body are almost separated, united only in a feeling of exhaustion.
The times when I overcome this separation are when I experience images that are able to give me physical and spiritual joy although often these images are those that many people might call ' negative' 'bleak', 'hopeless'.
My new work Series called Osorezan and Goshogawra were both taken in Aomori at the North end of the main Island of Japan.
This is one of the few places in the world where my soul feels pure happiness even though it enhances even more my pointed isolation, the solitude of my life. Sometimes I visit that place in my head as I am lying down on my bed in my London Flat. I feel the echo of the chorus of dead people and children on that mountain, and just to feel that that place exists makes me feel happy. Both Osorezan and Goshogawra are connected to the belief that human spirits go up into the mountains once they die.
Both mountains have a Buddhist temple and are particularly well known for calming the souls of dead children and unborn babies.
Aomori's history of geographical harshness and poverty means that children often died young or that mothers had to abort their children. Osorezan is translated as "Fear Mountain", a name that comes in part from the mountain's exceptional landscape. The area is rich in volcanic activity, and a strong smell of sulphur permeates the air.
Osorezan is also known as an entrance to the afterlife, because it features geographical elements similar to descriptions of Buddhist hell and paradise,including eight surrounding peaks and a river, Sanzu no Kawa, which has to be crossed by all dead souls on their way to the afterlife and is often compared to the River Styx of ancient Greek mythology.
