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March 30, 2006
Extended Comforting Desolace
I’ve finally returned to Tokyo after an elongated three week journey to the USA. I was originally slated to come back on the 15th, but advertising is a beast in which paradoxically every point is clearly scheduled, and yet more often than not it pays no heed to such predetermined checkpoints. On this, my longest time spent in the states in well over a year, I got a taste of what it feels like to be a resident again, and I could say without hesitation this is not my home. Not because of any feeling of negativity, but because of the simple clarity that the people there and I are on vastly different trajectories.
I look back at my photographs of Portland, and they are generally devoid of people. The beautifully designed W+K headquarters’ interior that seems from my point of view elegantly cavernous. A cityscape that is clean, and not at all crowded like LA, Tokyo, San Francisco, NY, Seoul, or any other large city I’ve been to, and which promptly goes to sleep around 10 pm every night. A starkly manicured corporate apartment with one Powerbook sprawled out on the carpet.
It’s hard being human. I think it was in my fifth term at Art Center when I did a portfolio review with Allison Goodman, and she liked all my work, but recommended I have a piece with at least one human being in it. The thought never even occurred to me. And usually when I come back from somewhere having taken a lot of photos, they’re devoid of humans. I must strive to be more than a ghost that just absorbs and contemplates information. To be fair, this time I do have quite a few nice photos with some good friends.
It feels quite good to be back home. And I haven’t even yet seen the sakura in full-bloom as they reportedly are, though I should be walking by a horde of them when I leave my house this morning.
Posted by shane at March 30, 2006 06:14 AM