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-Have there been any changes since you won the prize?

I feel that because of this I will be able to continue photography, or that I must continue. And that it gave me the support to do so. Since graduating from art college in 2008, I have been doing photography while also working. My prize-winning work was a collection I created for graduation. Up until now, it seems as though I continued created works along the lines of the school program. Or rather, I have come to realize that I have to commit myself and create works based on my own desires. By being able to partake in the exhibition and the open selection meeting, I feel I gained valuable experience from the responses of a wide variety of people. Previously, I had only exhibited at school, and the sense of urgency is entirely different. In any case, I felt I obtained the confidence to continue taking photos.

-Is there any comment by a judge that left an impression?

Someone said something like: “It would be good for you to experience more hardships.” As I certainly do not want to just complete works by looking inward, in some ways I would like to go out and gain more experience. I was also told at the open selection meeting not to over-explain my work. With this work, I felt that I was just trying to make something to get to know myself as well as possible. This work is not just composed of some everyday snapshots I picked out and arranged-I had a reason for every step I took, and I felt that I should explain that. That is why I gave the explanation.

-Your entry was not a book, instead it comprised 14 photos of varying sizes and shapes.

I wanted it to be viewed as one piece of work overall, which is why I did not choose the book format. By looking at the 14 photos at once, I wanted to express an image of everything that was going on in my head. That it was I thought of originally, so I did not worry about the composition at all for the exhibition, and I was able to complete it without any problems.

-How did you go about making this work?

When I was a third-year university student I spent the summer thinking, and then shooting photos through the fall and winter. Prior to that I had taken snapshots, but I was not really clear about what to look at and what to shoot. What did I really want to see? In order to truly grasp this, I thought it was necessary for me to deal with my inner self first. Then I decided to create works through which I expressed myself. I took fragments of memories and dreams, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could do to give them structure. I made a kind of under-drawing, and created along those lines so once I started shooting I had no hesitations.

-When did you first aspire to take photos?

As I wanted to study design, I attended an art prep school in order to get into art college. Around this time, I happened to visit a gallery and see some beautiful photography, and that was the first time I wanted to shoot photos too. The artist did photography and drew, and her name was Janaí na Tschäpe(*1). She creates based on solid concepts, however, I was taken by the beauty of the images at that time. I had enjoyed looking at photo books prior to that, but I had not gone as far as wanting to take photos myself.

-Are there any other artists you like?

I like Pipilotti Rist(*2) as well. She is an artist who uses video a lot. I can feel a fantastic power through her work. I feel a great amount of strength from the simple way she presents what she is feeling just like a child would.

-What kind direction will you take from now?

I will of course always be based in photography, but I would like to try creating works with a variety of media. In 2009, I would really like to put on a well-established exhibition of my own. At any rate, I have a feeling that the next time I exhibit will be completely different to my work this time.

*1 : Janaína Tschäpe
Born in 1973. An artist based in New York, Tschäpe holds exhibitions of drawings, video, photographs, and other various genres. Often using water as a motif, her works contain themes exploring life and sexuality, etc.

*2 : Pipilotti Rist
Artist born in Switzerland in 1962. Her works often include video, and she has been exhibiting around the world since the 1980s. She held major solo exhibitions containing many of her representative works at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo from 2007 to 2008.