“on the earth”
The Torino shroud, in which Christ’s body is said to have been wrapped and on which later his figure vaguely appeared, could be a photograph. On the white cloth is a full-length portrait of a person in black and white reversed. It looks exactly like a monochrome negative film. It is probable that photography existed is secret as a kind of magic prior to Niepce and Daguerre’s time. This magic was gradually taken to pieces after photography was invented (made open to the public), and spread throughout the world cheaply in large quantities. In the history of this spread of photography, inexpensive DPE prints marked a kind of peak. The power of dissemination stimulated the further scrapping of photography, and the advent of a digital world. Photography has finally been released from the power of dissemination. DPE prints will regain both magic-like and questionable qualities that photography used to have. Once in a while, while making a collage with hundreds of DPE prints, I find myself thrilled to bits.
Selecting judge: Kyoichi Tsuzuki
He uses photographs in place of paints. Although there is nothing new in the method, his enthusiasm for what he wants to create is expressed straightforwardly. Working on a computer or having it done on PhotoShop, he could save a lot of trouble and time, but he pasted prints one by one without any cheap tricks. I like his attitude, that is, to stick to and develop his thoroughgoing way of using photographs. What I find interesting are, for example, that the whole picture is getting bigger and bigger, and the finish quality is too shiny to handle neatly. Being different from many whose entries which are arbitrary pictures taken of their girlfriends only because they are attractive, he uses photo prints in place of paints, just like color paper (origami) to Kiyoshi Yamashita. I believe that how to make things look interesting depends on skills, planning, and concept. In this way, his intention is extremely clear-cut.
