MINAMI-SENJU 2003,2013-2017 / 南千住
The elderly gent who ran the store next door passed away at the start of summer. The electrical goods store opposite had disappeared without a trace – the corner next to where it had stood was also the place where a photographer I greatly admired shot a memorable photo of a man in a festival coat.
I need to take photos of this place as it is now. There is an impulse that drives me to.
It all seems like an inlaid work created by the hand of God… this kind of fantasy crossed my mind. But the interposed parts are in fact formed by the people who continue to operate their businesses in this place – like they are in any other town.
Sometimes slow, sometimes brisk – the regeneration of the town and those who live in it goes on. Many new people have come to Minami-Senju. If someone opens a business and it fails to take off, someone else will come in to open up something new to take its place.
Those who enjoy healthy business; those who shed blood and tears just to stay open. Those who have married into a family business. Those born and bred here; the young people who will soon leave for another place. The old-timers and new-comers living together in the redeveloped residential area of the town.
Those who come to visit have also changed. There are now many more foreign visitors, attracted to the affordable accommodation in the area.
Yet, my keeping of a good distance between myself and the town and the people who live there – both of which I find repel me but stay endearing to me at the same time – never changes.
42 Photographs, 46 Pages
TEXT in Japanese and English
隣の店のおじさんは初夏に亡くなっていた。目の前にあった電気屋は跡形もなく消えた。
その電気屋の角は敬愛する写真家が祭半纏の男を撮った場所でもある。
今撮らなければならない。衝動が私を突き動かす。
街は神の手によって形つくられる象嵌細工のようだ、そんな幻想が脳裏をかすめた。
しかし実際に嵌め込まれるパーツはその地で営みを続ける者が形づくる。どの街でもある出来事。
街も人もゆっくりと時に急ぎ足で新陳代謝が続く。
多くの者が南千住にやって来た。
経営が立ち行かず去る者あれば同じ場所で別の者が開業する。
堅実な経営を続ける者、出血をしながら続ける者。
嫁いで来た女たち。この地に生まれ育ち根付く者、これから巣立つ若者。
再開発を終えた住宅地には新旧の住人が入り交じる。
来訪者も変わった。手軽に泊まれる宿を求めて訪れる海外の旅行者が増えた。
しかし、私にとって疎ましくも愛おしいこの街と人々との程よい距離感は変わっていない。
The elderly gent who ran the store next door passed away at the start of summer. The electrical goods store opposite had disappeared without a trace – the corner next to where it had stood was also the place where a photographer I greatly admired shot a memorable photo of a man in a festival coat.
I need to take photos of this place as it is now. There is an impulse that drives me to.
It all seems like an inlaid work created by the hand of God… this kind of fantasy crossed my mind. But the interposed parts are in fact formed by the people who continue to operate their businesses in this place – like they are in any other town.
Sometimes slow, sometimes brisk – the regeneration of the town and those who live in it goes on. Many new people have come to Minami-Senju. If someone opens a business and it fails to take off, someone else will come in to open up something new to take its place.
Those who enjoy healthy business; those who shed blood and tears just to stay open. Those who have married into a family business. Those born and bred here; the young people who will soon leave for another place. The old-timers and new-comers living together in the redeveloped residential area of the town.
Those who come to visit have also changed. There are now many more foreign visitors, attracted to the affordable accommodation in the area.
Yet, my keeping of a good distance between myself and the town and the people who live there – both of which I find repel me but stay endearing to me at the same time – never changes.
42 Photographs, 46 Pages
TEXT in Japanese and English
隣の店のおじさんは初夏に亡くなっていた。目の前にあった電気屋は跡形もなく消えた。
その電気屋の角は敬愛する写真家が祭半纏の男を撮った場所でもある。
今撮らなければならない。衝動が私を突き動かす。
街は神の手によって形つくられる象嵌細工のようだ、そんな幻想が脳裏をかすめた。
しかし実際に嵌め込まれるパーツはその地で営みを続ける者が形づくる。どの街でもある出来事。
街も人もゆっくりと時に急ぎ足で新陳代謝が続く。
多くの者が南千住にやって来た。
経営が立ち行かず去る者あれば同じ場所で別の者が開業する。
堅実な経営を続ける者、出血をしながら続ける者。
嫁いで来た女たち。この地に生まれ育ち根付く者、これから巣立つ若者。
再開発を終えた住宅地には新旧の住人が入り交じる。
来訪者も変わった。手軽に泊まれる宿を求めて訪れる海外の旅行者が増えた。
しかし、私にとって疎ましくも愛おしいこの街と人々との程よい距離感は変わっていない。
