shashasha

In his photobook "Family of Lies," published by Three Books in Japan, photographer Hajime Kimura confronts his memories and feelings about his own family. As the title suggests, Kimura's relationship with the subject of family is not an easy one. The photographs in the book are permeated by spectres and a sense of lingering uncertainty. Characters appear as shadows or ghosts, landscapes and interiors are dark or blurred, sometimes to the point of total abstraction. It seems as though Kimura is both searching and asserting himself through his photography. The result is a fascinating, haunting document of Kimura's inner world.

The book opens with a long and extensive interview with Kimura about his work and his family, in both Japanese and English.

“I had to admit somewhere that my family was far from the ideal I had imagined, but I didn't want to admit it out in the open. So in front of my friends, I dreamed of an imaginary family...I used to think of my family as something that I really hated, something I didn't want to be known, something that was a shameful part of myself.”
― from Hajime Kimura’s interview