shashasha

Japanese photographer Eisuke Fukumochi encounters the titular god in a variety of settings. His book “God Counter,” which includes photographs taken since 1998, explores landscapes and situations that at first seem insignificant. But the artificial and natural objects, structures, and environments captured by Fukumochi's camera soon seem to have a deeper meaning, to be the "aftermath" of some event or encounter. The emotions and atmospheres are equally varied, ranging from despair and mystique to hope and wonder.

Fukumochi originally began taking photographs as a teenager while working at an industrial waste dump. The consequentiality and nondisappearing nature of human-made artifacts are common themes throughout his series. As he writes in his afterword, “[E]very time I see a fragment of an object or a useless remnant in my photographs, I feel pessimistic and the urge to look away. Then, I feel hope when I see plants standing still even after they have died, or running rampant over manmade objects.” His photobook “God Counter” approaches these many ambivalences and perplexities that arise from modern human existence with great sensitivity and without feeling the need to answer every question it may raise.