For the year 2018-2019, I lived in the public housing community in Koto-ku, Tokyo, which mainly lives for the elderly and low-income part-time workers who receive severance pay. But, of course, there are also student groups like me who can't afford it. There is a small garbage mansion at the entrance of every house, and I thought that it was a place for residents to throw away garbage, and many of the houses are elderly people and low-income people who are inconvenient to act, and the garbage mansion must be dirty. had thought. Surprisingly, however, every time I entered the garbage mansion, the recoverable waste was cleaned and, depending on the material, was neatly piled up in each waiting area.
These "garbage" were goods of various values until they were thrown away, but after these items took off the printed packaging on the surface, there was no substantial difference other than the difference in color and shape from each other. At one point, when I dumped the trash, the setting sun shined through the window into the room, and the clear plastic trash was shining in the sunlight. PET bottles are extruded when thrown away, so the originally smooth plastic surface has many wrinkles, but these wrinkles can refract light between the plastics, and if you look closely, they are certainly beautiful.
Consumerism has already become a social trend in today's sophisticated economic society. People satisfy their spiritual enjoyment by buying expensive and modern products. Online markets such as Alibaba and Amazon create many holidays that never existed and drive people's consumption. For example, through "Black Friday" in the United States and "Single Day on November 11th" in China, we are attracting people's enthusiastic consumption. As consumer power grows, so does the high-end brand industry. Even the originally cheap dryers are sold at tablet-like prices with improved product technology and excellent advertising marketing. Moreover, the sales are amazing. But against this background, many do not know what they have consumed.
1."Neglected Beauty"
This work "Boutique" is an experimental work, first observing the dust from a different angle, shooting the dust with a special method, capturing the unexpected beauty of the material itself and the traces of use by the person who left it. I did. Garbage in the garbage dump is also a product of the consumption era. Goods go through three stages: production, distribution, and use, and finally exist in the form of garbage. From these trash, we removed the labels that symbolized consumerism and commercialization. Although there are traces of use, only the material is left.
2."Figure of garbage"
I made a graphic from the photos of the trash taken in this series and wrapped it around like a dress. As a matter of fact, they created posters in the form of fashion advertisements that encourage consumption at first glance. But this is a satire and remorse for consumerism.
3. What is "Boutique"
A series of images of "boutique" was created using the above experimental photography. With these images, I came to Tokyo Ginza and Nihonbashi-gai, where department stores and boutiques stand, and stood in front of advertisements for elaborate buildings and luxury goods and put them up by hand.
--I consider the value gap between the "garbage" that is used and discarded and the genuine gem products to be the biggest irony for the consumer society.
Looking closely at the reaction of passers-by to the act, it was surprising that some passers-by misunderstood the act as a promotional activity for the store behind. If "garbage" and "gem" are placed without any discomfort, you can ask yourself what the gem is. Where is the blind pursuit of the meaning of consumption?
4. Concept Extension
The original shape of the garbage is visually blurred by the method of superposition, blending, light processing, etc., retaining the characteristics of the material and the traces left by the surface after use. When the original shape of the garbage is out of focused, the human visual center can return to the material itself for these items, rekindle the new curiosity about "garbage", and have more understanding of the nature of the garbage. I put the name of the garbage material, the introduction of the material, its chemical formula and other information into the picture, and displayed it in the form of a poster.
