The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Thursday January 21st — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Thursday January 21st — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Thursday January 21st — —

Everybody Knows, Nobody Knows

We continue to stay in Japan, bringing you another Japanese artist whose exceptional work we recently discovered – in this case through a feature by the always inspirational Phases Magazine. Although the excellently curated platform almost always succeeds in curating captivating imagemakers, the work of photographic artist Yuichiro Higashiji stands out in the most subtle way possible. Reminding us strongly of the work of another photographic imagemaker which we hold in the highest esteem; Adam Jeppesen, the Japanese photographer’s works from the principle of reproducing his images to the point of fading. In this proces a fascinating dynamic is instilled through which his – in the case of his ‘Everybody Knows, Nobody Knows’ series – grainy black and white representations come to life and fade away, almost mimicking the way affect and memory are sometimes stimulated in the brain. As a result the series of images by Higashiji become their own profound kind of projection on anyone who takes the time to really indulge in the images.

It’s to make unconsciousness become more conscious to touch a picture. It’s to copy 1 picture 2000 times using a copy machine, and the unconsciousness which has its photograph taken is expanded and regaining consciousness is given. Expansion makes itself evolve into regaining consciousness as a result. Regaining consciousness beyond the imagination for which I don’t depend on my world is to let a mechanical process through, and thinks 2000 times of work from which you can get advantage in statistical way to have.

Yuichiro Higashiji was born in Nagoya, Japan, which despite it is lesser known in the West makes up the fourth largest city in the country, with several million people living in the city. After growing up in the city, Higashiji moved on to study at the Okayama University of Science. Soon after graduating his BA he shifted focus on photography, quickly developing his clear vision on the power of the dynamic of reproducing his grainy imagery and finding new meaning in the fading of the photographs he catches with his camera. The images which are mostly black and white, but sometimes also show color, inhabit significant room for interpretation and always have an element of mystery have been exhibited in Japan and hopefully will find their way abroad soon.

For more information and work by Yuichiro Higashiji see here