shashasha

“Others from the Future”, an inquiry of the world beyond our limits in the form of a photogram portrait series of babies.
Starting from a chance encounter with an obstetrician familiar with Ken Kitano’s work, the artist began to create a series of photograms – photographs created without the use of camera or lens – of newborn babies, or ‘beings that had not existed in this world a few hours earlier’. Shot in total darkness, the results remain a mystery until the print is fully developed, revealing their subjects in two-color silhouettes that capture several moments at once.

“I found myself thinking more and more about them. Where do babies come from? What kind of a world do they exist in before they enter ‘this world’? Will I ever return to that other world?”
— from Ken Kitano’s afterword (included in Japanese and in English translation)