「凪」 本作は現在と過去、思い出の風景を行き来しながら、土地とそこに根付いた個人の記憶の関係を背景に、今ある平和への感謝とその大切さを静かに語る。そして本編への序章となる作品である。 私が写真を撮り始めた10年前、何度も何度も海を訪れていた。ただ撮りたいものを気の済むまで撮影していただけなのだが、なぜあれだけ海に執着したのだろうか?その答えを求めて、改めて全ての写真を見返すことにした。 海ばかり写った膨大なネガを見ているうち、なぜだか不意に子供の頃に祖父が語ってくれた戦争体験が呼び起こされた。 -じいちゃんは原爆には負うとらん。 -呉におったけえの。 -海軍よ。 -人間魚雷も作っとった。-そりゃあ何をつくりよるんか教えちゃくれんが、設計図見りゃあ何を作りよるかくらい分かるわい。 子供の頃の記憶だが、初めて聞いた祖父の戦争体験は鮮明に記憶に焼き付いている。しかし、私の撮った海の写真と祖父との記憶が結びついたのかは不明だった。そこで、祖父の人生を辿ってみることにした。 祖父の生活のすぐ側には、いつも海があったようだ。 軍港のまち呉に生まれ育ち、やがて海軍に入隊。戦争末期そこで秘密裏に作られていたという人間魚雷「回天」。そして祖父がその製造に関わっていたのではないかという疑念。 祖父はそれをどう受け止め、戦後を生きたのか。 祖父の人生を調べたり、祖父と過ごした子供の頃の記憶を思い出す度に、祖父の戦争体験が、私の海への執着にまで繋がっていたことが分かってきた。そして、戦争の愚かさといま平和に生きられていることの有り難みを実感せずにはいられなかった。 本作は過去5年間に渡り海で撮影した膨大な写真を用いて制作された。歴史の事実と記憶の狭間を揺蕩いながら、月並みな毎日をこの先も送れるように願う架け橋となる作品である。
"Nagi" work back and forth between the present and the past, between imagined landscapes, and quietly speaks of gratitude for the peace that exists today and its importance, against the backdrop of the relationship between the land and the personal memories rooted in it. It is also a prelude to the main part of the work. Ten years ago, when I first started taking photographs, I visited the ocean many, many times. I just photographed what I wanted to photograph until I was satisfied, but why was I so obsessed with the ocean? In search of the answer, I decided to look back at all the photos I had taken. As I looked at the huge number of negatives, which were all of the sea, for some reason, I was suddenly reminded of the war experiences my grandfather had told me about when I was a child. “I wasn’t caught in the atomic bombing.” “I was in Kure.” “I mean, in the Navy,” he said. “There, I was making human torpedoes, too.” “And of course, nobody told me what they were building, but the blueprints told it all.” It was a childhood memory, but the first time I heard about my grandfather’s war experience was vividly etched in my memory. However, it was unclear how my memories of my grandfather were connected to the photographs I had taken of the sea. So I decided to retrace my grandfather’s life. It seems that the sea was always close by in my grandfather’s life. He was born and raised in Kure, a military port town, and eventually joined the Navy. At the end of the war, a human torpedo called “Kaiten” was secretly manufactured there, and there were suspicions that my grandfather was involved in its manufacture. How did he accept this and how did he live after the war? Every time I researched my grandfather’s life and recalled childhood memories of spending time with him, I came to realize that his war experience had led to my obsession with the sea. And I could not help but realize the foolishness of war and how thankful I am to be able to live in peace. This work was created using a vast number of photographs taken at sea over the past five years. This work is a work that moves back and forth between historical fact and memory, hoping that we can continue to live our ordinary everyday lives.