shashasha

While walking his dog one night, Japanese photographer and psychiatrist Shinya Ichikawa (b. 1959) came across a scene that seemed familiar. A children’s playground, lit by the glow of a mercury vapor lamp, its seesaw, slide and swing set abandoned and otherworldly. Reminded of a pivotal scene in Haruki Murakami’s novel “1Q84 [ichi-kyuu-hachi-yon],” Ichikawa decided to photograph the playground in an attempt to capture the complex moods of Murakami’s magical realism.
His photobook “2O14 [ni-ou-ichi-yon],” published by Tokyo-based Fugensha in 2024, consists of two series. For “2O14 [ni-ou-ichi-yon] I”, Ichikawa photographed the playground at night using a flashlight and a large-format camera. In the sequel, “2O14 [ni-ou-ichi-yon] II,” he visited the playground during the day and photographed it with a medium-format camera and infrared film to draw out its otherworldly atmosphere.
The book includes texts by photography critic Kotaro Iizawa and the artist. All texts in Japanese & English.

“Ichikawa … aimed to depict the metamorphosis of everyday space-time into something else. To that end, techniques unique to photography, such as long exposures and infrared film, which substantially transform how the real world is perceived, are of great significance. In a sense, the medium of expression itself, i.e., photography, could be said to play the role of a door that opens to another world.
Ichikawa understands the characteristics of photography well, and like an alchemist, uses them to bring out nostalgic yet unsettling scenes hidden in the depths of the viewer’s memory.”
― from Kotaro Iizawa’s afterword