shashasha

“Into the Light” is a series based on infrared camera photographs of residential areas in suburban Tokyo, taken late in the evening. It was inspired by Yusuke Yamatani’s interest in other people’s houses prompted by having my own family. Despite being an inorganic entity, houses change together with its residents and can never be separated from human activities. Even with the use of an infrared camera that responds to invisible rays, we cannot, of course, take a peek into these houses. The desire to have a glimpse of human activities despite its impossibility, made him strongly aware of “seeing” and “being seen.” We are now living a contradiction where on one hand we fear being seen by others, while on the other, our desire to see and know more keeps escalating as we come into contact with a large amount of information on a daily basis. Entering into the realm of the other from the overwhelming abyss between the self and the other that looms over residential areas late at night, makes him feel, together with the chasm between himself and the world, a peculiar feeling of comfort.

After working for Photo Studio, Yusuke Yamatani(born in Japan, 1985) relocated in Nagasaki where he met Shomei Tomatsu and other no-name photographers. He gained actual knowledge and technique of photography by interacting with them and getting started as an artist. Since then, with his sensitive perspective as one of outsiders, he has been photographing of every day life in underground communities by integrating himself into their life by living and hanging out with them, traveling various cities such as a squat in Milano and punks in South East Asia.

• Statement from the publisher