中国福建省山間部に住む客家と呼ばれる人たちとその住居を撮影した写真集。
黄色い色に包まれながら、「私」と「家」を巡って綴る記録と記憶。
2020年、第20回さがみはら写真新人奨励賞受賞。
LITTLE MAN BOOKS
120ページ/上製本
280×260mm
4,500円（税別）
寄稿：田原（詩人、翻訳家）
装丁：文京図案室 三木俊一
印刷／製本：株式会社山田写真製版所
プリンティングディレクション：熊倉桂三
装丁：文京図案室 三木俊一
印刷／製本：株式会社山田写真製版所
プリンティングディレクション：熊倉桂三
2019年8月1日発売
故郷を失うことは、自分を失うことなのだろうか。 中国南東の山間部に異様な建物が点在するエリアがある。外界を拒絶するようにそびえる土壁。 一歩足を踏み入れれば、100 部屋はあろうかというほどの猥雑な集合住宅があらわれる。黄河中下流域から戦乱を逃れてきた「客家人」たちのこの住処は、客家土楼と呼ばれ、世界遺産にも登録される歴史的建造物だ。 1700 年もの歴史を刻むこの建築群には、老人の姿が目立つ。 中国の発展は人里はなれたこの山間にとっても他人事ではない。都市部へと出稼ぎに行き、都会の生活に浸った若者たちは、もう客家土楼に戻ってこない。主をなくした住処は中国の成長と反比例するように急速に荒廃しはじめている。 経済の発展には、時に様々な犠牲を伴う。しかし、歴史が年輪に刻まれるように、受け継がれなければならないものもあるはずだ。それこそが、今の自分自身を形づくるものなのだから。
Between 2006 and 2008, Osamu Nakamura visited the Fujian region in China to photograph tulou houses – the homes of the local Hakka people and registered as World Heritage site.
Introduced by a local ink-wash painter, Nakamura began to visit different villages and – carrying a Hasselblad medium-format camera – to shoot portraits of the people he encountered. A life in the old houses and the simple, self-sufficient lifestyle spent in the blistering sun had carved deep marks into the faces of his subjects. Some, as old as 95 years, had never had their portraits taken before, and when Nakamura arrived in the villages, people would line up to let him take photos. “Their eyes seemed to simultaneously harbor both confidence and bewilderment—confidence drawn from the fact that they have survived through times of dramatic change and bewilderment towards the fact that the traditional lifestyle was disappearing,” writes Nakamura in his afterword. Having visited the area again in 2019, Nakamura noticed that while the designation as World Heritage site had helped preserve the incredible homes of the Hakka people, the huts that had not been included in the designation were deteriorating, some had even collapsed completely. Further, the tourism – while bringing in money – slowly puts an end to the Hakka people’s way of life.
Introduced by a local ink-wash painter, Nakamura began to visit different villages and – carrying a Hasselblad medium-format camera – to shoot portraits of the people he encountered. A life in the old houses and the simple, self-sufficient lifestyle spent in the blistering sun had carved deep marks into the faces of his subjects. Some, as old as 95 years, had never had their portraits taken before, and when Nakamura arrived in the villages, people would line up to let him take photos. “Their eyes seemed to simultaneously harbor both confidence and bewilderment—confidence drawn from the fact that they have survived through times of dramatic change and bewilderment towards the fact that the traditional lifestyle was disappearing,” writes Nakamura in his afterword. Having visited the area again in 2019, Nakamura noticed that while the designation as World Heritage site had helped preserve the incredible homes of the Hakka people, the huts that had not been included in the designation were deteriorating, some had even collapsed completely. Further, the tourism – while bringing in money – slowly puts an end to the Hakka people’s way of life.
“Many of those living had become wealthy and were now free from the necessity of labor. […]
What was it that I saw ten years ago? The world covered in yellow light reflecting from the earthen walls of tulou—the world that seemed even magical to me—seemed to have already closed its doors.”
What was it that I saw ten years ago? The world covered in yellow light reflecting from the earthen walls of tulou—the world that seemed even magical to me—seemed to have already closed its doors.”
In 2020, won the 20th Sagamihara Photo Newcomer Encouragement Award.
< from shashasha website >
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