Moe Suzuki photo exhibition “SOKOHI” 12/12 ~ 12/27
Reminders Photography Stronghold is pleased to announce Moe Suzuki’s photo exhibition “SOKOHI” from the 12th of December to the 27th.
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
Suzuki participated in the Photobook as Object workshop held in 2019 where she developed the initial idea of the project and edited into the photobook since then.
This project began when Suzuki started living with her father who is getting blind from glaucoma. The artist tries to visualise the inner world of her father getting blind and how he faces this state of himself. Suzuki pursued this project in order to experience what her father sees but others cannot see and he cannot see what other people can see.
We are take orders for the artist photobook “SOKOHI” during the exhibition.
We will update posts for further information on SNSs. Please stay tuned.
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<Exhibition Outline>
Date: December 12th – 27th, 2020.
Opening hours: 1pm – 7pm
Venue: Reminders Photography Stronghold
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SOKOHI
Sokohi is a Japanese word in use since the 16th century as a general term for optical disease causing visual impairment, which literally means “shadow in the bottom.” Aosokohi, literally “green shadow in the bottom,” was used to specify glaucoma. There is a theory of the origin of this word that ao (green) comes from Hippocrates’ writing, which says that before going blind the pupil turns the green colour of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite having such a long history and being the most common cause for visual impairment in present day Japan, glaucoma`s cause is not totally understood and treatment is not always effective.
My father`s glaucoma is such a case. Daily medication for fourteen years and surgery did not particularly control his high eye pressure, which caused slow but progressive visual field defects. He wakes up to a slightly darker morning every day, and when he tries to grab something his hands often grasp at the air instead of the item.
My father kept journals for most of his life. He took photographs while traveling. And during an editing career of almost fifty years he was always surrounded by books and various sorts of writing. However, because of his glaucoma, reading and writing don`t make sense to him anymore.
Although he appears to accept his fate calmly as his blindness progresses, there are moments when he clings desperately to his wavering sight as if fighting to stop it from disappearing completely. At the same time, he builds a wall around himself to protect himself from the sympathy of people who can see what he cannot see and cannot see what he can see. Peeking behind this wall I see glimpses of my father’s figure moving in and out of the shadow in the bottom, walking unsteadily, but firmly seeking out new ways to perceive the world around him. His journey towards blindness goes back and forth between light and shadow, like waves pushing and pulling to and from the seashore.
Moe Suzuki
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
©︎Moe Suzuki / SOKOHI
<About Moe Suzuki>
Born in 1984 in Tokyo. Studied photography at London College Communications, University of the Arts London. Since 2012, Moe started the art book label ‘Banyan Books & Illustrations’ which she makes her own art books along working as a binder and binding consultant for artists around the world. Her latest photobook ‘SOKOHI’ was shortlisted for KASSEL DUMMY AWARD 2020.
http://www.banyan-b-i.com