Kensaku Seki photo exhibition “2:16.22” July 11 – 26

03/09/2020

Reminders Photography Stronghold is pleased to present Kensaku Seki’s photo exhibition “2:16.22” from July 11th to 26th, 2020.
Having graduated in athletics and taught physical education for three years, Seki decided to take a hard look at his life in sport. The title of this work refers to the 2-hours 16-minutes 22-second record of 1964 Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Kōkichi Tsuburaya, who took his own life only a few years after his triumph. It is an attempt to visualize the struggle, isolation, and the emotional toll athletes face in their attempts to set records.
This work won the Grand Prize of KYOTOGRAPHIE Portfolio Review FUJIFILM AWARD 2019 and was exhibited at TOKYOGRAPIE 2019. In this exhibition, we will exhibit works that have been further developed.
The artist photobook “2: 16.22” will be published in conjunction with this exhibition.
Details will be announced on Facebook etc. at any time, so please stay tuned.

©︎Kensaku Seki / 2:16.22

「2:16.22」

“A record time is the athlete’s calling card. Numbers are dry blips, totally separate from the grand tales of sweat and strain behind the scenes.

2 hours 16 minutes 22 seconds, was the marathon record of 1964 Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Kōkichi Tsuburaya. He grabbed a moment’s glory, then tragically ended his life at the young age of 27. The record that symbolized his glory suddenly became a goal he had to transcend. The numbers formed an insurmountable barrier, forcing him into isolation and despair.

This exhibition looks at five athletes who stake their lives on the act of running and the on-going fight to set records. A long distance runner coexisting with pain, a sprinter beset by convulsive anxieties, a hurdler unable to face up to popular expectations, a sprinter whose relationships suffered when he became Olympic medalist, a hurdler emotionally dependent on her coach. Based on interviews, I try to visualize the other side of winning.

As a former track and field athlete who used to challenge records, this project is an effort to untangle fine strands of memory caught up in numbers.

Kensaku Seki

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Exhibition Outline
◎Date: July 11th to 26th, 2020.
◎Opening hours: 1pm – 7pm
Open every day during the exhibition, free admission
◎Venue: Reminders Photography Stronghold
2-38-5, Higashimukoujima,Sumida-ku, Tokyo
◎Online artist talk: from 7pm on July 11th
◎ Hand-made book Photo book “2: 16.22” pre-order soon

©︎Kensaku Seki / 2:16.22

©︎Kensaku Seki / 2:16.22

©︎Kensaku Seki / 2:16.22

©︎Kensaku Seki / 2:16.22

©︎Kensaku Seki / 2:16.22

Kensaku Seki
Born 1983 in Chiba Prefecture, Kensaku Seki graduated in Health and Sports Science from Juntendo University. From 2007 he served for three years as a lower secondary school physical education instructor in Bhutan before becoming a freelance photographer in 2011. A devoted portraitist of his subjects’ inner lives, he won the coveted 2017 Yōnosuke Natori Award for Young Photographers for his documentary work on a friend’s struggles after suffering a brain tumor.　Seki’s 2018 photobook “OF HOPE AND FEAR”, which focuses on Bhutanese youth keen on hip-hop culture, received a Portfolio Review Special Prize KYOTOGRAPHIE 2018 International Photography Festival and ranked among the top 3 nominees for the 2018 Photobook Week Aarhus Dummy Award.
https://www.kensakuseki-photoworks.com

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