TRANS ARTS TOKYO 2015

The space that I was allocated for this exhibition was on top of an abandoned building, where people used to hang out their laundry. There was no roof above it, so it was exposed to both the brilliant sunlight and fierce typhoons of autumn.
It was a space that had been neglected after many years of use. To my eyes, the rust-covered table and wires had already become objets d'art, devoid of their original functions. It occurred to me that my photographs would soon start to deteriorate if left in a place like this and I recalled the photograph album that I found on the street in one of the areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The tsunami had caused the film on the surface of the photographs to peel away and it was hard to make out what the photographs showed. They were photographs stripped of their purpose and function. I must confess that I found those photographs quite appealing, rendered into abstract paintings by this deterioration.
Humans are creatures that can see beauty in decay. The rusty, unusable table is beautiful, as is the discarded door. And I was even able to see the beauty in photographs whose subjects were virtually indistinguishable after being washed away by the tsunami.
I wonder how the landscape photographs taken after the Great East Japan Earthquake exhibited here will appear after being exposed to strong sunlight and downpours.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　-Daisuke HAYATA