THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #8 Meaning of Edition

Reminders Photography Stronghold Gallery will be organizing the first exhibition of 2017, Mayumi Suzuki’s “The Restoration Will.” She is one of the 2016 Photobook As Object workshop participants and she has been working on her book project “The Restoration Will” almost a year since the workshop and finally it’ll be launched at the exhibition. Prior to the show, Mayumi is sharing a series of her essay.

Mayumi Suzuki’s exhibition has been successfully closed now! Thank you!

photo archive: Ishinomaki visual & information center

Meaning of Edition

The edition number of this photobook, 87, represents the number of years since the family-owned photo studio was first opened in 1930. My grandfather, Koi Sasaki moved to Onagawa from Furukawa, Miyagi prefecture and established the Sasaki photo studio.
Just three years after he opened the studio there was a tsunami in Onagawa. I am not sure how much damage he sustained but the fact is he managed to restart the studio. After that, he got married and brought up six children. One of them was my Father, Atsushi who took over the business as a photographer when he was 21 years old. There was another tsunami in 1960 caused by an earthquake with its epicenter in Chile. Their photo studio was flooded with the water reaching the ceiling of the ground floor. Onagawa town was badly damaged by the tsunami but fortunately, no one lost their lives.

Why do people continue to live here in this town, in spite of being hit by a tsunami many times?

Actually, I would be the third generation photographer if I took over now. Many families in this town have continued their business onto the next generation. They have overcome all the difficulties by themselves and managed to reconstruct. I would say each personal family history adds a layer onto the history of this town. I entrust 87 people with a copy of my book as part of the history of the town.

Text by Mayumi Suzuki
English proofreading by Mike Ward

To be continued….
READ ESSAY ARHIVE
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #1 FATHER’S LENS BY MAYUMI SUZUKI
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #2 BLUE PORTFOLIO BY MAYUMI SUZUKI
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #3 BLUE WAVE BY MAYUMI SUZUKI
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #4 Candle night
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #5 Family snapshots
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #6 Paper from Ishinomaki
THE RESTORATION WILL ESSAY #7 Map and Snapshot

ALL 87 EDITIONS ARE PRE-ORDERED NOW. THANK YOU!