As IF/ This Land 2010- ongoing
Photographic research materials
I belong to this land, and it is my origin and my place. I examine the Japanese archipelago from a geographical aspect and through myths and volcanic traces. Volcanoes are the origin of this archipelago. However, according to Japanese mythology, Kojiki, the first island of the Japanese archipelago, Onogoro Island – now Awaji Island – was born by the gods. The geological traces of the Japanese archipelago and the myth have nothing to do with whether or not they are true. They are both just “supposed to be.”
As the German philosopher Hans Vaihinger says, everything that confronts man this way can be taken hypothetically. In his words, everything in the world is based on a semi-fiction “as if” that deviates slightly from reality.
It is a process of observing the land of my origin, the Japanese archipelago, and connecting the origins. In 2014, I witnessed the eruption of a volcano that caused many deaths. The addition of the physical experience gained from the movement of my own body is a certain point of contact with this land.
Tomoko kawai 