shashasha

Active between 1984-2001, the independently run photography gallery Mole based in Shinjuku published features from photographers such as Yasuo Yamamoto and Michio Yamauchi._Silent Mode,_published in 1996, is a photographic feature of Masato Seto's series of the same name. Exclusively capturing women in the metro and railway trains of Tokyo, Seto's lens penetrates the personal bubble in which the individual is situated. Within are 27 monochrome photographs, intimately portraying portraitures of women caught within their own personal momentary poses of respite and thought within the crowded confines of Tokyo's metropolis. The title, a direct cultural reference to Japan's social code concerning the use of a mobile phone in public spaces, brilliantly combines and contrasts the contexts of the phrases origin to the resulting images within, capturing the silent mannerisms yet expressive characteristics of each seated figure.