shashasha

From his first photobook project Pinky & Killer in 2004, for which he shot willing couples in tight, enclosed spaces, Photographer Hal has made it his mission to capture Love in his photography. For Flesh Love Returns, a continuation of his 2011 book “Flesh Love”, he photographed couples in Belgium, Hongkong, the Netherlands and Japan, in locations chosen by each individual couples for their anecdotal significance to them. Vacuum sealing each couple “without even air between them”, fusing them into a singular physical item, produces, in the artist’s own words, “the ultimate substantial portrait.”

“To participate in this shooting, the couple is required to determine to have the love as well as death, and I am also required to have determination which would make my life shorter. […]

I spent about two and a half years to complete this project in the end. But the publication was settled on the way of project, so more than half of production was shot in the last half year eventually to meet deadline. In those days, I focused only on this project whether awake or asleep, and I appreciate that I have done this much of work is because of my models, all couples. Someday, I hope to find my love, and together be in vacuum-sealed bag to be “Flesh Love Returns” too.”

— excerpt from the artist’s statement