The Tales of a Young Designer: November 2014

1500 words about her:

Rink Kawauchi was born in Shiga, Japan, in 1972. She lives and works in Tokyo. Kawauchi studied at the Seian University of Art and Design and graduated in 1993. She started as a photographer on a freelance basis from 1997. In 2001 she launched herself into the photographic world with the simultaneous release of 3 books, UTATANE, HANABI and HANAKO, which created an overnight sensation in the photography world in Japan. In 2002, she was awarded prestigious 27^th Annual Kimura Ihei Award for two of the books, UTATANE and HANABI. Kawauchi has joined and held many group and solo exhibitions both at home and abroad to date. Since then she has released a large number of monographs of which the latest addition is Illuminance. Her images seem simple, but they evoke primal emotions within the viewer. By paying attention to tiny gestures and incidental details within her environment she finds the extraordinary within the mundane. The editing within her books is crucial to her work and the stories she wishes to tell. The photographs show a large range of emotions and fundamentally address life itself, from the good all the way to the bad. Her work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group shows around the world and is in several public collections as the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and Huis Marseille in Amsterdam.

A distinctive trait of her work lies both in the sequence and the juxtaposition of her images. This editing, she says, “differentiates between a photograph and an artwork. Seeing two images next to each other opens up the imagination and gives birth to something else. Flipping through the pages of the book, it can arouse feelings of excitement, sadness, or happiness—things that are hard [for me] to do with words.”

In her photos we see an iridescent diamond; a radiant blue sky; an elderly woman making onigiri; an infant suckling on a mother’s breast. At first glance, her photographs seem simple. But her talent lies in the way she is able to evoke the primal in all of us: a depth of raw human emotion. “It’s not enough that [the photograph] is beautiful,” says Kawauchi. “If it doesn’t move my heart, it won’t move anyone else’s heart.”

I was so excited to discover the elusive and internationally renowned Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi’s diary on Tumblr, filled with images shot with her cellphone. Due to Instagram, I have been drawn to cell phone photos taken by people I admire, because I am often curious about what they find interesting in their surroundings in an untouched and honest way. Rinko’s Diary is filled with personal images that bring light to her ability of finding beauty in everyday details and transient wonders.

http://www.rinkokawauchi.com/main/biography_eg.html

http://lightbox.time.com/2011/04/11/rinko-kawauchi%e2%80%99s-illuminance/#ixzz3IhAIOE9c

Below is an interview from

http://pingmag.jp/2006/08/11/10-questions-to-rinko-kawauchi-about-photography/

1. Miss Kawauchi, your photos bring me into a world of quiet contemplation, your camera captures the most intricate details of every day life, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary and revealing a lyrical rhythm to our daily lives and surroundings. Before I go into your motifs and motivation, may I start by asking you what cameras you use?

My favourite camera is the Rolleiflex. The reason why I like the Rolleiflex so much is because every aspect of it, the soft quality of the lens, the feeling of it in my hand, the clicking of the shutter, feels just right. But I also use normal compact cameras as well because some things can only be taken with a compact camera. I love that moment when I feel something and press the shutter.

2. Do you insist upon a certain kind of form of printing? For example, you often print your photos in a square format, is there a reason why?

The reason why I print in a square format is because the Rolleiflex camera which I use is a 6 x 6 camera. I dislike trimming photos because I when I take pictures I am taking them through a 6 x 6 lens and therefore from a 6 x 6 point of view. But I really like the square format it is a world that is neither vertical nor horizontal. Not being pulled by either feels like a world to me.

3. What do you actually like about photography?

I was comfortable with it the moment I held my first camera. Also, there is a kind of positive chemistry between me and taking photos …I think I really like the idea of cutting out a moment in time…it is almost like fulfilling a hunting instinct for me. By fulfilling this need I get a feeling of satisfaction. For example, I think its similar to going shopping, the feeling of going to get something is a really comfortable task and coming home and printing the images is very similar to cooking for me. This string of tasks is very important to my daily life.

4. You do commercial photography as well as your personal artwork. Can you tell us a little about the relationship between your work in an artistic and commercial context and about how you negotiate and deal with both.

At first I had been doing lots of commercial work, but my manager Mr. Takei encouraged me to spend more time on my artistic work. But it’s difficult to choose one or the other because if someone where to ask me whether I work better without commissioned work, that is not always the case. On the other hand, doing too much commercial work is no good either. But for example, the work I am displaying at the Photographers Gallery now is what I worked on whilst I worked on commissions and when I look back on myself, I am really glad that I was able to take so much work side by side with my commercial work. If I were given lots of time to concentrate just on my artistic works, I don’t know if I could do it. So for me it is best when I balance out the job of being a commercial photographer and an artistic photographer.

5 . I realized, that you take photos with your mobile phone, too for your online Rinko Diary you write! I find it extremely interesting to see a professional photographer taking photos on a mobile phone and presenting them to the public. Can you tell me a bit more about those photos and why you started the diary?

I thought taking photos with my mobile phone every day would be quite interesting, It’s a mobile phone camera and I am writing a diary, so I tried not to make it too artistic. Why I started it is because I really wanted to do something daily. Even more, I wanted it to be presented to others because doing something privately doesn’t ever last long, and going round in circles brings you back to the same place. I also thought that presenting it on the internet would make it feel live.

I also think it a really positive activity form me as it is in a sense therapeutic and helps me maintain my mental health.

6. And I heard that you are taking this diary further by publishing a book based on it! This also brings me to my next question: you have a prolific publishing career with 6 major beautiful titles and you tend to present a lot of your photography in book format. What exactly triggered your bookmaking career? Was it inspired by any special encounters?

My first photography book was published by Mr. Takei when he was still at Little More (He is now the president of Foil. Normally, publishing three books at once, especially photography books is completely unheard of, but he just did it and that was the beginning Books have always been like a friend to me from a very early age and when I spoke of my future dream in high school I said that, although I didn’t know exactly what kind of book it would be, I would publish a book in my own name one day.

Words on her famous “Illuminance” series from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/06/14/arts/in-the-light-of-rinko-kawauchi/#.VGOux16z5g0

The subjects in “Illuminance” vary: There are flower gardens and city streets, piles of snow, a rough ocean, even a tiny frog sitting on someone’s hand — all evoking a certain sense of stillness and beauty. The first thing visitors may notice is a lack of people. If someone is seen, he or she is but a hand or a foot.

In the exhibition’s catalogue, Kawauchi is described as an artist who chooses her subjects as a child would, focusing on small but fascinating details that are free of heavy symbolism and are reminders of the wonderful world around us. More often than not, she captures these in a limited spectrum of cool, pale blues that have become her signature colors.

According to Kawauchi, “Illuminance,” which she started in 2007, has been in production for the past several years. Every now and then, she adds or removes parts of the collection. This editing process — how the photos are chosen, what order to place them — is part of the artistic process and is more important to her than how or why the photographs were taken in the first place.

“Illuminance” is the scientific word for the measurement of light, and the essential role light has in producing photographs is always a theme. But the images in the series also often focus on the remarkable ways light can transform the world. The series’ main work, a shot taken at the base of a set of subway stairs, depicts commuters climbing the stairs as a ray of bright sunlight descends down the steps into the station. The effect, achieved without any post-production tricks, transforms a mundane scene into a sight resembling a divine passage to heaven.

7. What exactly do you like about the book format?

Movies and television offer you a form of time, which is in a sense imposed upon you and which you can’t really move away from or control. But with books, you can take them around and look at any part of them at your own pace. This is why, I can’t stand reading the same book with someone else. For example, I used to love the Shonen Jump Magazine when I was in elementary school and I hated it when my brother would try to read the comics while I did. I would say, “Stop interfering with my relationship with Dragonball!” (ha ha ha) I didn’t want anyone to interfere with the intimate world created between me and whatever I was reading. Books are such a big part of my life, they have helped me through a lot, and that is why I am so happy to be able to have a job where I can make books

8. Your books are collections of images often put together based on visual association and I find that these visual associations create space for engagement, curiosity, contemplation and imagination. How do you decide upon the composition of your books? How do you make your books flow so beautifully?

When I put together a book, I actually I have a conversation with myself. To be more specific, I begin by printing simply everything that I have recently taken and which interest me for whatever reason. And then I spread everything on my floor at home and start by taking an image in my hand. I then choose the next image, as if I were playing an image association game. I have moments where I say to myself, “I don’t know why but only this image can be next to this one”, or “this is a bit too well-coupled”. It’s almost like having some kind of discovery. In fact, photography is a succession of discoveries. When you take the photo you have a discovery. Then when you print you have another discovery. It is as if I am pressing the shutter a second time, because I notice things, I wasn’t aware before.

9. How did you cultivate your photographic/artistic sensibility?

People often say that I have a child’s eye. For example, I stare at ants gathering around sugar, or when I seek shelter from the rain, I gaze upon snails. These are things which you often do when you are a child aren’t they? I have a very similar sensibility to that.

I prefer listening to the small voices in our world, those which whisper. I have a feeling I am always being saved by these whispers, my eyes naturally focus on small things. Even when I walk around Shibuya, I find myself running towards a little batch of flowers. I find comfort in them. I think this is a very normal sensitivity, on the contrary to what people may think, I think its sound. But of course the world we live in is not only made up of grass growing by the road, it is composed by lots and lots of other elements and so I do also take pictures of many other things. Just taking flowers is not interesting. I experience the world with a feeling of equilibrium and I think it shows in my works.

Here are a couple more interviews I found of her on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0WUhFQ_cY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ymxIjPQYF0

List of 50 words describing Rinko’s Work:

Airy: open to a free current of fresh air; breezy
Breathy
Light: an illuminating agent or source, as the sun, a lamp, or a beacon
Environmental: the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences; surroundings
Sunny
Sparkly
Raw
Radiant
Simple
Breathtaking
Fluorescent
Carefree
Lighthearted
Glowing
Luminous
Lustrous
Humble
Modest
Elegant
Graceful
Supple
Smooth
Clear
Fair
Pure
Rich
Chaste
Clean
Green
Eco-friendly
Fresh: not salty, as water.
Crisp
Tasteful
Refined
Aesthetic
Appealing
Pretty
Unclouded
Vibrant
Refreshing: having the power to restore freshness, vitality, energy, etc
Stimulating
Energizing
Revitalizing
Pleasant
Uplifting
Incandescent
Unsoiled
Sterile
Sanitized
Charming : pleasing; delightful

::Compound-Words::

Fresh-Environmental: Within Rinko’s work, there is a lot of naturalistic, fresh elements such as the following: plants, water, sunlight, etc.

Airy-Refreshing: Rinko’s work feels very open and breezy, and this creates a sense of restoration and stimulation.

Light-Charming: It seems that Rinko allows/creates a sense of radiance and light within her works, and this creates a pleasing and delightful environment.

Pure-Simple: Rinko’s work seems that it is free from polluted matter and is not overly complicated or elaborate.

Lighthearted-Tasteful: Rinko creates a cheerful and happy atmosphere which then makes her work quite appealing.

Graceful-Radiant: There is a sense of beauty and elegance in Rinko’s work, and this allows her work to shine amongst other work.