Gallery is now updated with my Jeju photos. This is kind of fresh look to the material I shot in Jeju in summer 2012. There are some digital shots as well as 35mm film.
Leaving to Finland
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to my home country. I went there in last November and met my now 90 years old grandma. It was one big return for me which I did alone.
Now I will be spending two weeks in the great green Finnish summer, smelling the distant forest flowers, taking sauna and swimming in my childhood lake.
It’s always almost a shock to realise how different Finland smells. The smell is so different, it’s another world.. and trees look and sound different too. The sound of leaves of birch trees make when wind touches them.. it’s the sound of my childhood. I used to climb on one of those and fell more than once.. (maybe that’s why I became like this!)
My biggest desire now is to take off my shoes and walk on the green grass, looking at the Finnish summer clouds.
Being happy might not be so complicated. It might be very simple. Just breathe, and open your arms.
Regarding Araki's Photos
“Upon closer scrutiny, his subjects are always alone, finding contact difficult, as if preoccupied by a sense of absurdity, a sense that communication between human beings trapped in solitude is impossible.”
Germano Celant’s description of Araki’s photos is remarkably deep and true. This is the very reason why I like Araki; it’s the very loneliness that’s realised in often erotic subject matter. His subjects never look satisfied, but rather isolated and needy; the women look almost like as if they are orphans missing their long lost family members. Solitude fascinates me; that’s why I love Araki.
Sentimental Journey is undoubtedly one of his most personal and most powerful words. The universal message of extreme solitude and loneliness goes across the language and any cultural barrier. I was almost literally in shock for a period of time after seeing the photo series; it was just so powerful message.
Although Araki can be considered very Japanese photographer, he is at the same time very international, because art itself knows no borders. It could very well be that Araki is and will be my favourite photographer.