Yoshiyuki Okuyama
Windows
Posted by Akaaka, 2023
Size: 24 x 19.5 x 5.5 cm
752 pages
Hardcover
Languages: Japanese, English
Many windows in the Japanese capital, one of the most densely populated places in the world, feature frosted or opaque glass. Furthermore, Okuyama's photographs separate the windows from any surrounding context: no window frame, no wall, no building, no address, no locality. In each shot, we can only catch a hazy glimpse of the life that may be unfolding on the other side of the window, projected onto the glass as if it were a screen or the canvas of a painting. Okuyama's series captures the visual beauty and diversity that emerge from these conditions, but it also plays with our imagination (what might these shapes be? What do these rooms look like inside?).
“As far back as I can remember, whenever I went for a walk, I looked at the windows of houses and liked to imagine what it was like to live there, what kind of people lived there, how they felt in their daily lives... We want to keep out the heat and the cold, the wind and the rain, but we want to let in the sunlight. The window seems to be a paradoxical product that satisfies the contradictory desires of human beings to create a pleasant indoor environment while enjoying the benefits of the outdoors, and at the same time serves as an interface between individuals and society.
In the opaque windows—perhaps some kind of symbol of Tokyo with its complex layers of culture and buildings piled on top of each other—I saw people's facial expressions.
I felt that looking at the windows was like strangers looking at each other."
- excerpt from the foreword by Yoshiyuki Okuyama