” There was a gentle calm in my grandmother’s eyes.
She had skinny arms and a hard stoop.
She always wore a purple cardigan.
As I sit in this room all day long,
that is how I remember her.
Curiously enough.
I clearly recall her wrinkles and the tone of her voice,
even though I only saw her a few times a year.
In the late afternoon, the bright light that enters the room
has a color I feel I’m seeing for the first time.
The soft clicks of the shutter dissolve in the light,
accentuating the silence.
What was she thinking about?
To her eyes, how did the light look?
Gazing at the dust neatly gathered by the window,
I slowly release the shutter
with feelings of nostalgia and a little regret.
I must not forget.
We become realized, physically and mentally,
when we reflect ourselves off of other people.
That’s why we always want someone
to listen to our stories.
That’s why the color of the light must have been
too lonely on her own.
A conversation with my grandmother.
And the portrait of my life.” — from Yoshiyuki Okuyama’s afterword (included in Japanese and in English translation)
Yoshiyuki Okuyama a photographié cette série dans la maison de sa défunte grand-mère, qu’il utilise comme studio. Prenant clairement le recul visuel de ses sujets, les gens, Okuyama entre habilement dans un dialogue nostalgique avec sa défunte grand-mère en photographiant des fleurs, des plantes et des arbres illuminés par la lumière du soleil. ‘Flowers’ est un mélange de sa perspective de sa grand-mère à travers les fleurs, ainsi que de sa perspective avant et après sa mort, qu’Okuyama avait déjà photographiée. Le livre comprend une interview avIntimité, Fleur, Nature morte, Homme Photographe, Photographe japonaisec le photographe dans laquelle il donne un aperçu de son élan et de son approche vis-à-vis de cette série émotionnelle.
Yoshiyuki Okuyama photographed this series in the house of his late grandmother, which he uses as a studio space. Making a clear visual departure from his usual pictorial subjects, people, Okuyama deftly enters into a nostalgic dialogue with his late grandmother by photographing flowers, plants, and trees illuminated by the sunlight. ‘Flowers’ is a mixture of his perspective of his grandmother through flowers as well as her perspective before and after her death, which Okuyama had already been photographing. The book includes an interview with the photographer in which he offers insight into his impetus and approach regarding this emotional series.
