KANEYAMA, Takahiro (Tokyo, 1971)While Leaves Are Falling

A photo plate applied to the cover. Design by Hisaki Matsumoto

Firma e data autografe del fotografo (Signed and dated by the photographer)

The book was a finalist for the 2016 Kimura Ihei Award and Domon Ken Award, two of Japan's most prestigious photography awards. "I was raised by four women: my mother, grandmother and two aunts who never married. My mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was a teenager. She became a completely different person overnight; it almost seemed as if her life story had been erased. I could no longer have a conversation with her. The only way to show what she had been was through photographs dating back to before the illness. After the diagnosis she did nothing but go back and forth between home and hospital. When I was 28 years old, my grandmother died. She was the head of the four women who had raised me and had filled the role of mother after my real mother's illness. Losing her was like losing my mother. The death of a member of my family made me acutely aware of how much time had passed without my really noticing. I thought my family would never grow old, existing forever in a timeless place. Before my grandmother died, I rarely took pictures of my family. Later I began to take pictures whenever I returned to Japan. The best days became when my mother, her two sisters and I would take short trips around Japan. People still struggle to talk about mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, and it is difficult to gain social support and understanding. And even more difficult is to get people interested in learning more about schizophrenia. For this reason, I decided to record the time and space that my family and I shared, exploring universal themes such as family, aging, and the passage of time. These photographs are a vehicle for me to travel back and forth between past and present. The photographs help me embrace the changes that have already taken place and those that are to come."