shashasha

In the photobook “World’s End,” Kyoji Takahashi tells of his lasting experience of late British filmmaker Derek Jarman.

Takahashi visited Jarman in his hometown of Dungeness in 1992, saw the “prospect cottage” the artist had made his home since 1986, around the time he was diagnosed as HIV positive. Takahashi’s photobook forms a contemplative reflection, using photos mostly taken in the 2010s in places in Berlin, London, Dungeness, Japan. “WOrld’s End” is not a sombre farewell to his friend but rather a bright memento mori; death always lurks somewhere within beauty.

“But what if this present
Were the world’s last night?
In the setting sun your love fades
Dies in the moonlight
Fails to rise
Thrice denied by cock crow
In the dawn’s first light”
― Derek Jarman