Moe Suzuki’s artist book “Sokohi” IS SOLD OUT! THANK YOU!

10/18/2020

Moe Suzuki’s artist book “Sokohi” IS SOLD OUT! THANK YOU!

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting pre-orders for Moe Suzuki’s artist book “Sokohi”.

Moe Suzuki participated in the Photobook as Object workshop held in 2019 to work on this project.

As she witnesses her father who lives with her gradually losing his eyesight due to glaucoma, this work expresses the inner life of her father, which is hard for a clear-eyed person like Suzuki to imagine, but she can’t help but imagine what it is like to lose his eyesight and how he is dealing with this fact. He attempts to express a quiet experience of a world that others can see but his father cannot, or cannot see as he sees it.

Reminders Photography Stronghold will hold an exhibition related to this work entitled ‘Sokohi’. The exhibition will run from December 12th to 27th. Please note that the artist book will be sent out after the exhibition starts.

The artist will be in the gallery during the exhibition period, and will be working on the book at the gallery.

We look forward to seeing you at the exhibition.

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.

“SOKOHI” artist book by Moe Suzuki
18,700 JPY
Language: Japanese with English translation
Ring bound with hard covers, 214pp
Size: 189mm x 259 mm x 24mm
76 editions only (all made to order)
Each edition will be signed and give the edition number by the artist
Photo / Text / Illustrations / Print/ Laser cut: Moe Suzuki
Hand written title/ Hand written journals / Photo archives: Tetsuichi Suzuki
Ring binding: Saitoh Kobo