Jiro Fukasawa

In the Darkness

Jul 22 - Aug 8, 2009
Photo Gallery International

Jiro Fukasawa

In the Darkness

Jul 22 - Aug 8, 2009
Photo Gallery International

  • ©Jiro Fukasawa

  • ©Jiro Fukasawa

  • ©Jiro Fukasawa

Jiro Fukasawa had first one-person exhibition titled “In the Sky” in 2004 at Photo Gallery International during “10 Days Exhibition” which is designed to feature young & mid-career photographers.

Photographs of air-force planes at the U.S. military bases in Japan were shown.

 

Fukasawa began photographing fireflies in 2004. Fireflies were composed as a subject in Japanese traditional Waka poems from ancient times, also they are often appear in the song lyrics and idioms even now. Fukasawa felt he did not have certain reason to photograph fireflies and just photographed them. He recalls, “I always had a feeling of dry-as-dust when photographing air-force planes at the U.S. military bases in Japan. Perhaps I preferred to face fireflies to neutralize that kind of feeling.”

Fireflies spend much of their lifetime (around one year) in water and soil. At a larval stage, they receive nutrition around 11 months and two weeks, and they don’t eat and reproduce next one to two weeks in the adult stage. Female firefly will die after mate and lay eggs. Fukasawa photographs beautiful but harsh program of “species survival”, and recreates “love light” drawings on photographic paper in the darkroom.

The light trajectory of dance widely by fireflies captured by Fukasawa looks like galaxy far away in space or unidentified flying objects. These photographs bring viewers to have strange but wonderful feeling.

 

Around 40 gelatin silver prints photographed from 2004 to 2006 are exhibited.

Jiro Fukasawa

Born in 1968. Graduated from Waseda University, School of Commerce, 1992. 
Studied photography at the CORPUS workshop. Freelance photographer since 1995. 
One-person exhibition: “In the Sky” Photo Gallery International, 2004.

 

 

Exhibitions at PGI

In the Darkness, 2009
In the Sky, P.G.I. 10 Days Exhibition — vol.7, 2004