digital / color / 15min. / 2018 / Japan
Special thanks: FUKUSHIMA Yuri, KOBAYASHI Yonezo, OKAMURA Issei, WATANABE Taisei / Support: Yamakiwa Gallery
This work examines “yukihori” (removing snow from roofs) in Matsunoyama, an area that gets a lot of snow Tōkamachi City, Niigata Prefecture. This activity that is part of residents’ daily routines is repeated over and over again in moving images. When the activity of the people on the screen starts to seem like something unknown, I think we may be able to catch a glimpse of the balance between people’s daily lives and the environment that creates Matsuyama’s scenery.(Y.S.)
Just as two hours can seem to pass in an instant, we can also get bored in the span of fine minutes. Cinema is something that can bend the actual passage of time. This is Matsuyama, located in Niigata Prefecture’s Tōkamachi City. The snow piled up on roofs captured by the camera is the passage of time in the harsh life of this snowy region, and also in cinema. The snow that continues to fall and pile up, and the arduous task of knocking it down. An up and down battle. Falling, fluttering, being knocked down, being stepped on… The various sounds associated with snow are also pleasant.(S.T.)