Wakako Kikuchi - Echo

Wakako Kikuchi
Echo

Published by Libro Arte, 2016
Book size 21 x 29.7 cm
Pages, 64 pages
Hardcover
Languages, English, Japanese

“I grew up in a small town in the countryside of northeastern Japan.
There were few lights to illuminate the city, so on days when the moon and stars could not be seen, there was a deep darkness that made me dread nightfall. In winter, snow covered the earth, transforming the city into a white world. Even at night, the sky was bright. I felt as if I had strayed into a completely different, strangely wonderful world, which I contemplated for a long time.
I began photographing the Echoes series in 2008, over a period of eight years. At times, my field of vision was suppressed, covered by a large white veil, so that I saw nothing but myself. I wondered if this was the real world or a world I imagined in my heart, and I kept walking, wandering in this indeterminate space.
As I concentrated, I was able to hear breathing sounds of different natures; as I took pictures in response to each of these sounds, the emotional baggage in my mind gradually dissipated.
I felt as if I was touching the world as it appeared to me when I was a child; it was a moment of sweetness where I remembered the past with tenderness and nostalgia."
- According to the artist