shashasha

Masafumi Sanai’s photobook “Shashin no Taimo” (“Photographs like Bodyhair”) contains works shot all over the world (Tokyo, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, New York, San Francisco, Okinawa, Kyoto, Hong Kong, China, etc.) from 1996 until 2022. Sanai’s pure and straightforward approach to photography, photographing and photographs is mirrored by the book’s design: every bit of available space is used to show photographs, without a single square inch wasted. And yet each individual image is given the necessary space and respect to unfold its own little magic, as Sanai’s honest style finds something important and rememberable in seemingly any given situation, from lunch sets in cafeterias to cityscapes shot from above, candid portraits, water bottles placed on patterned carpet, street corners, brick walls and countless other unostentatious scenes.

“I think photographs have a certain warmth to them, but
it’s not like the warmth of a person, more like the soft fur of a cat.
It’s like that warmth that animals possess,
where you don’t need to talk, you just give it food and it’s all fine.
Or a bit like the warmth of food.
Turning the pages, I noticed the photographs had movement, had romance,
and I knew I had finished my photobook.”
― Masafumi Sanai (translation by shashasha)