MIKIKO HARA
SMALL MYTHS
Published by Chose Commune, 2022
Book size 23 x 27 cm
Pages, 104 pages
Softcover
ISBN: 979-10-96383-34-4
Mikiko Hara has her own way of secretly capturing the strangers who cross her path: a young man on the train, a couple holding hands, a little girl playing in a park… Sometimes their eyes meet briefly as she presses the shutter, but Mikiko Hara does not exchange with her subjects. Yet, these portraits reveal something infinitely personal, as if the photographer and her subjects were bound by an invisible pact: being in the right place at the right time.
Mikiko Hara's approach, firmly rooted in a documentation of every-day life, extends in the intimacy of her living space: cut flowers in the sink, a strawberry shortcake in the fridge, her three sons dozing on the floor. The eye of the photographer, who is also a mother and wife, moves back and forth from the outside to the inside, from the public to the private sphere. Wherever she is, Mikiko Hara observes and tells stories like fragments of life.
At the initiative of the publisher – who made the selection in collaboration with the artist – these unpublished photographs from 1996 to 2021 have been assembled in this book, entitled Small Myths.
Publisher statement.
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Mikiko Hara furtively and without artifice captures the strangers who cross her path: a young man on the train, a couple holding hands, a little girl playing in a park... Eyes sometimes meet at the moment of taking the shot, but Mikiko Hara does not interact with her subjects. However, these portraits reveal something infinitely personal, as if the photographer and her subjects were linked by an invisible pact: that of having been there in the right place at the right time.
Her approach, firmly anchored in a documentation of everyday life, continues in the intimacy of her living space: cut flowers in the sink, a strawberry plant in the fridge, her three sons asleep on the floor. The gaze of the photographer, who is also a mother and wife, goes back and forth from the outside to the inside, from the public sphere to the private sphere. Wherever she is, Mikiko Hara observes and tells stories like fragments of life.
At the initiative of the publisher – who made the selection in collaboration with the artist – these unpublished photographs dated between 1996 and 2021 have been brought together in this book, entitled Small Myths.
Publisher's text.