shashasha

In 2010, Shingo Kanagawa receives a call from his grandmother letting him know that his aunt is in the hospital. Kanagawa hasn’t seen the aunt in twenty years, and has no recollection of speaking with her either. He decides to visit her.
His photobook “For a While” chronicles his visits to the hospital for the following ten years. Each time he visits, he takes a portrait photograph of her. She suffers from dementia, calls him “Makoto.” He has no idea who Makoto could be. Already a frail figure in the first few pictures, the health of his aunt continues to decline as the book progresses, until there is, inevitably, a final photograph, a final portrait.
In the back of the book, Kanagawa includes a diary-like record of the time he spent with his aunt, his thoughts and his experiences (only in Japanese language).

“‘It’s spring now. Next time will be summer. The next you’ll come, it’ll be summer, yes?’ she asks, and I promise to come back again in summer.
I bring the spoon to her mouth, one bite at a time. It feels as if the act has some meaning, or that we are acknowledging something intangible between each other. I feel something that may be affection, or attachment, towards her. But, again, it all does not last. After an hour together, her condition worsens, and it is difficult for me again.”
― from Shingo Kanagawa’s afterword “For a While” (translation by shashasha)