What elements do you think are required of a photograph for it to
be regarded as a work of art?
It’s
difficult to say what elements are needed for it to be viewed as an art piece. Works
made by celebrated photographers are shown in museums regardless of genre, and
are traded as artwork. I think that the value is added by the name of the
author, and there is also an aspect of investment, and you could say there is
the speculation in the art market. Furthermore, the sense of value has
diversified; there are photographers whose works only presented on Instagram,
and they have tens of thousands of followers. I think that the concept of value
and these baselines are ambiguous. There are photos that come off as good shots
to me intuitively, but they haven’t received much acclaim. It’s not a realm
that you can make sweeping statements about.
What do you think is your definition for documentary photography?
Speaking
of traditional documentaries, I would say that it’s a record of the world
around someone, or a record of an unknown world, but I started distancing
myself from this sort of traditional documentary photography since my last work.
It’s difficult for me to answer since my feelings have grown weaker towards
continuing to work on the same things.
So, there will be changes in the theme you undertake for in future
projects?
Now,
my focus is shifting to recognizing the ambiguousness of world, of the those
people themselves, and aspects within the relationship between myself and them.
What do you want to photograph the most now?
There is a project that I would like to photograph
but due to current situation (caused by spread of COVID-19), I haven’t even been
able to start it. When I was making the aforementioned blue affair, I
thought that up until then I had been working on projects that were relatively
easier to make proposals for. But, what I want to do now is something that’s
vague and difficult to put into words, and though I do not know if it will go
well or not, I would like to rely upon happenstance. Over last few years, I’ve
certainly deepened my interest in the action of taking photos itself. I am more
interested in capturing things that happens based on the relationship between
myself and subjects. It’s something organic and accidental, and I never know
what I photograph unless I spend time. That’s what occupies my mind these days.