Japan –
Facing an imperceptible threat, Japan had no choice but to sort out contaminated territories and objects from those that were not. But this is a subjective and blurred boundary. Each one has to set his or her own limits. And those limits end up dividing people themselves. We recurred to “irrational” dramatization as well as transparent settings (bubbles and films) to question this flicked frontier and the way people tend to react to it. This grey area is likely to breed fears and fantasies that can become more harmful that radiation themselves.
For this “Bad dreams?” project, Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression went one more time to Fukushima prefecture contaminated areas (Namie, Odaka, Date, Iitate, Kawamata) and took their pictures with Fukushima residents. This is why we would like to thank Nakajima Takashi, Yoshinari Hirohagu, Tanji Kohdai, Shima Akemi, Ooyama Yoshihiko, Sato Kenji, Handa Shinji and Tsugyo Takahashi who accepted to pose in our photographies.
Our approach:
For our reports, we went several times to Fukushima prefecture following March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. There we travelled across the region and had the opportunity to meet many residents and activists. those trips and encounters were full of strong emotions for us especially at the beginning of the crisis but also though out our different projects. Our intimate and factual knowledge of the region and its inhabitants nourish this photographic word in Fukushima. And even if the image aesthetic matters to us, we primarily tried to convey Fukushima’s reality and our feelings towards this reality.
© Carlos Ayesta – Guillaume Bression
