shashasha

“The archetype of the human being,” says YAMAUCHI. For some reason, whether it is the outward aspect or conduct of a person, the appearance of the city, the core (density) of a moment that is captured and speaks of that person or city for eternity, continues to draw him in, and incite him. Though the areas inhabited by the people who are his subjects is limited, by his interests, to the city, still the people who are collected discard the binds articulated by their times and their locales. In a world where there is this kind of person, or That kind of person, with This kind of face, would probably have lived in a different time, in a different place, and there will be more born in years to come. The fluctuating moods of the individual, or dictates of their likes and dislikes form the spine of their forms of existence. Spreading a number of his works on the table, looking down upon the portraits of apathetic, lethargic people, YAMAUCHI remarks that he “headed for Hong Kong (to take photographs) because there were an increasing number of these kinds of faces.” The capturing of subjects who touch upon the theme is something neither taught nor compelled, but rather done through choice, sniffing out and proceeding through the volition of a creative person’s expression. From behind, unawares, the era and generation, the edge of a sagging cloth, sweeps forth and forms creates. The numerous “faces” that he responded to form a single world map, placed as the addendum, the revised edition, and the archetype of the contemporary human being. The viewing person may align himself alongside it, or choose to live there, or just peer in and move on, or of course resist that he does not want to be contained in such a place, or again to ignore it as though disinterested. However, it is not the ambition of anyone calling himself a creator or artist, to have their work fly forth from their garden, and to press upon the viewer and cause them to murmur, regretfully, “if it is here, then it is not irrelevant to me. That, I cannot deny”?

ーfrom Chikage Omi, "Yamauchi Michio with Silent Companions”