Soundless river

t the beginning of 2011, I was working on editing photos taken in Tohoku, the north east region in Japan, to make it into a book. \nSign of winter is reminiscent of the Tohoku, where I grew up. Coupled with winter cold, my heart twinges and gravitates towards the snowy hometown in the North when I sense it.\nStarted at the Tohoku, I went on a journey for photographing, which, in the end, made me go over to Russia to trace my family’s old blood. \nAs the journey went on, I’ve come to think that hometown is perhaps about memories, memories of people and the land, which fragments had inherited to us through ages slowly, silently.\nThen the Earthquake hit the Tohoku region. I was brought back to my home town again. \nNature is menacing. The overwhelmingness reminded me of how powerless we are in front of it. \nFeeling powerlessness before the devastating scenery, yet, I felt my heart tightened up seeing the nature, the sea become calm and flowers are about to bloom again – and we accept and appreciate all of these.\n-Artist statement-