shashasha

On September 9, 2015, Japanese photographer Kazuhiko Washio found himself in Wien Westbahnhof Station in Vienna, Austria, about to fly back home to Japan after journeying through Europe.

In the three hours before his train left for the airport, Washio found himself amidst thousands of refugees who had fled their homes and headed to Europe. The photobook “Station” collects the images Washio took that day in Vienna’s Westbahnhof Station – the individuals, their faces, their relief, their optimism, as well as the volunteers greeting and welcoming the newly arrived. Washio’s photographs are both historic document and reminder of the hope and pain and struggle that is part of each human’s journey through life’s many different stations.
The book includes an afterword by Kazuhiko Washio and a short text by writer Kaho Nashiki (both in Japanese and English translation).

“Every time we encounter another person, we begin to weave a new tapestry of imagination through the process of thinking about their life. Each knot that we tie adds to the creation of whole scenes. While we are weaving, we may make mistakes, we may experience regret, conflict, opposition, fear, but it is only through that process that we can witness new backgrounds to the world.” (from Kazuhiko Washio’s afterword)