Noah Suzuki
December 24, 2020
Ichiro Kojima
December 24, 2020
Asae Kuroki
(Kanagawa, 1979)
Learned from Daido Moriyama at the Department of Photography, Tokyo Visual Arts College. Graduated in 2000. I continue to take photos with only Mr. Moriyama's words, "I want you to continue taking photos, even if you are not good at it." After working at a photo lab, I take profile photos of artists, etc.
I hope the photos are more freedom. Any camera is fine. It doesn't matter whether it's digital or film. I feel that any means can be used as long as I can express my ideal. I would be more than happy if I could express myself as I like and the photos remain. However, there is a difference between what I want to leave and what people want to leave. What photos do people want to leave? Is it historical photo? Is it overwhelming size? Is it a sense that suits the times? They all seem to be correct, so I don't think any of them are correct. And I still don't know the answer.
My photos have no strong impact. But I would be happy if I could help people to stay close to their hearts, awaken memories they never remembered, and stop for a moment. And I would be happy if you wanted to leave it.
"Etermal memories"
(Asae Kuroki)
Nakatajima Sand Dunes
The encounter is a coincidence. I just happened to stop by. However, the sight I saw for the first time captivated me. The film I had was used up in no time. I want to see that scene again. I went there many times taking over 3 hours one way. It was more like going to meet that place than going there. I was filled with the excitement of seeing that place soon on the Shinkansen line. I wanted to give shape to the time I spent together. I printed in the darkroom as usual. But the finished photo was far from my memory. I didn't know what to do. There were times when I turned my eyes away. However, I didn't want to give up this feelings close to love. In my frustrating days, I saw the Albument print. I thought this was it instantly. But I had no knowledge or experience. After consulting with Mr. Masami Tamura, who is familiar with classical techniques, the Nakatajima Sand Dunes in my memory have taken shape. I felt happy as if my love had come true.
This is the concept
"Nice to meet you, I'm Asae Kuroki. I'm currently making works using a technique called albument print. I'd like to talk a little about the albument print. First of all, I met albument print in 2017 when I saw the work of Jean-Eugene Atget at a museum. The print was so beautiful that I wanted to try it myself and started studying. The camera I usually use to make works is a 35mm film camera. I've been using it for about 23 years. Since albument print is contact print, we make digital negatives from 35mm film. I put this digital negative on the albumen print I made and exposed it to finish the print. The important thing that I think to make works is to print on paper. Not only in Japan, there are many floods, so I think it would be better if we could print and leave the work in this way, rather than digital data that could be destroyed in an instant. I will continue to use albument print. Thanks for your time !! "