shashasha

The exhibition title is taken from the German theologian Rudolf Otto’sThe Idea of the Holy(1917), in which the term is used to describe the “numinous” (a divine power that is simultaneously terrifying and fascinating).

Since discovering that a “meaningful coincidence” is at work in the relation between the self and the world, Kodaira has endeavored to make photographs, which serves as a medium for expressing, and sharing with others, the sense of coming into contact with this “meaningful coincidence”.

Shooting is intuitive. Even when I don’t understand why, I try to capture the fleeting sense, say, for example, a sharp stomach pain, which I receive from the photographic subject, before it disappears. Terribly delicate signals transmitted from the unconscious manifest themselves in various ways. While I have no set method, repeatedly shooting photographs allows me to immerse myself in previously unknown or long forgotten feelings.

• Masahiro Kodaira, March 23, 2013
  (Excerpted from text written for solo exhibition “The Wholly Other”)