Thoughts on "GROUND"

It is the inevitable destiny of the countless artificial articles left abandoned on the island to be eaten away by wind and rain, eventually to crumble and fall. However, this gradual change can only be recognized within a large unit of time. Even though, we can take a glance at a part of this process, In this series, I have attempted capture the transformation in photography.

Various articles created as tools for humans have been left behind on Gunkanjima when the island was closed. Abandoned, these items became "objects" fleeced of their purpose and name. In other words, they became free. As a proof, "objects" are only left to erode. Erosion is not destruction enforced by human hand; it is a course of nature. Rusted and disfigured, "objects" purge themselves of finger marks and compulsory images imparted by humans, and transform themselves into unimaginable forms. Now, "objects" on the island no longer keep their familiar shapes of functional tools. The island has become a faraway world out of reach of fuman intentions.

In this series, I photographed objects - once steel utensils - I found half-buried in the ground, rusty and almost decomposed. These are pictures of objects in the process of returning to soil, or the "borderland" between thing and earth. They are chunks of metal that no longer resemble any recognizable item.
On one occasion, the chunk looked like mimicry. Like the variety of mantis that camouflages as a lerf to lurk among fallen leaves seeking prey, or like the chameleon that changes its skin to disguise into the bark of a tree it clings to, the metallic chunk seemed to seek assimilation with earth.
At another time, the chunk looked like a creature about to shed its skin. Once a perfect product, after being washed by the salty sea, baked by the sun, discolored, swollen from the inside, and cracked, it takes on a grotesque form. Over the years, these objects have reached a critical point, where some crumble away silently, others burst marvelously, to blend into the ground. Is this outgrowth into disappearance, or liberation from images?
And yet at another instance, the chunk appeared to be at the moment of birth. Instead of "crumbring into the ground," they looked as if to be "emerging into life from the earth." As if over a long period of time, a piece of ground is rising and hardening, trying to create something. Just like continents that have emerged out of chaos.
The chunks changed thier impression day to day -- they looked like artifacts excavated at some ancient ruin, or fossils from an unknown creature. No, in truth, the bizarre chunks are just objects, which defy description by any word.

I made this series on color positive-film (approx. 1300 x 600mm), which will be displayed on a large viewer box with florescent light. In oder to recreate the ground of Gunkanjima, the works will be displayed on the floor. (However, the works have been enlarged greater than actual size.) The reason for the floor exhibit is because these works do not have a top or bottom. By showing them on the floor, the audience will be free to view the works from any direction. A wall display would command the audience to view from a given direction, which I wished to avoid.

Translator: OGATA keiko

website top　　GROUND　　gallery menu　　close