shashasha

Nishimura's “Eternal Chase” is a collection of images shot in between the years 1970-1983. The selected photographs within this publication take us along the travels and wanderings of her youth. Taken in and around Tohoku, as well as the Kanto, Hokuriku and Kansai regions of Japan, the images are grainy, putting aside the aesthetics of perfect compositions and correct exposures to make way for images which capture a direct immediacy; pulling the viewer into Nishimura's lived experience. Included within the publication is an afterword by the artist entitled 'Yearnings' as well as an essay by Hirashima Akihiko entitled 'Reflect Forward: the Journey is the Route'. Here, images and text combine to bring forth a testimony of youthful self-discovery, of chance and exploration, echoing very Japanese ideals andspiritual notions of travel.

“In her afterword, the artist remarks on trancending bounds, and what is travel if not going beyond limits and demarcations? The divisions may not be just between towns and countries, but between this world and the next. To travel is to see the world through the gaze of the world beyond, and photographs give us clues to navigate our uncertain present.”
― Excerpt from the essay'Reflect Forward: the Journey is the Route' by Hirashima Akihiko