flowers 

Yoshiyuki Okuyama

"flowers" is the first in a trilogy work that "attempts to depict people through non-human subjects."（The second is "windows"） What underlies Okuyama's works, regardless of their incentive or purpose, is his unique visual expression that treats the contradictions and multifacetedness accompanying all phenomena as themes for production, and discerns the essence of photography in the numerous possibilities that fluctuate before and after the moment that is captured. 

"flowers" is an imaginary dialogue between Okuyama and his late grandmother. These photos were taken in her house, which Okuyama uses as his atelier now. The scenes there, such as beams of light entering a room, or trees swaying in the garden, are the remnants of his beloved grandmother. Okuyama photographs them, flowers in particular, as though enacting the conversation with her that he can no longer have.  

For his flower photos, Okuyama uses 110 film, which his grandfather used as well in the 1980s. This miniature film creates a nostalgic atmosphere that works well with the house's classic decor, its unique ambience.

"flowers" are the medium of the imaginary conversation, yet they hint at its impossibility. The out-of-focus image of a flower in the light implies the unreachable. A flower indoors, next to its reflection in the window, or flowers in a vase, isolated from the garden in bloom: these too hint at that gap. The only way to close this distance, the only way to make the conversation feel real, is to keep photographing flowers in his grandmother's house. 

Windows are another key motif in this photobook Okuyama uses them to frame and contrast the energy of the outside world with the dim indoors, and also to convey both the gaze of the artist outward and that of nature inward. 

"flowers" is full of layers. Multiple perspectives coexist in one image. There is also a layer of family history. We see images of the past, such as old family albums and furniture treasured by Okuyama's grandmother, and he juxtaposes old film types and printing formats with new methods: scanned images and freeze-frames. This variety alludes to the number of eyes that have seen, and are still seeing, the lives in the house.. 

There was a gentle calm in my grandmother's eyes.

She had skinny arms and a hard stoop.

She always wore a purple cardigan.

As I sit in this room all day long,

that is how I remember her.

Curiously enough.

I clearly recall her wrinkles and the tone of her voice,

even though I only saw her a few times a year.

In the late afternoon, the bright light that enters the room

has a color I feel I'm seeing for the first time.

The soft clicks of the shutter dissolve in the light,

accentuating the silence.

What was she thinking about?

To her eyes, how did the light look?

Gazing at the dust neatly gathered by the window,

I slowly release the shutter

with feelings of nostalgia and a little regret.

I must not forget.

We become realized, physically and mentally,

when we reflect ourselves off of other people.

That's why we always want someone

to listen to our stories.

That's why the color of the light must have been

too lonely on her own.

A conversation with my grandmother.

And the portrait of my life.

"flowers"

Yoshiyuki Okuyama

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Special gifts for the first customers of the reprint

重版を記念し、小社HPより重版分をご購入の先着120名さまに、サイン本をお届け致します。無くなり次第終了とさせて頂きます。（※こちらの特典付き商品には、赤々舎もう一冊、りんご通信など、その他の特典は付きません）

Signed copie will be given away as a Special gifts for the first customers.The offer will end while supplies last.

初版先着ご購入者さまに、特典ポストカードをお付けして、写真集『flowers』をお届け致します。（1000枚限定、なくなり次第終了）　→ご好評を頂き、予定枚数を配布終了いたしました。（2021.5/28）

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Related Exhibiton

奥山由之 個展 「flowers」 会期：2023年10月25日（水）〜11月26日（日） 時間：13:00〜20:00  ※土日 11:00〜19:00 休廊: 月・火 会場：PURPLE（京都市中京区式阿弥町122-1 3F） 関連イベント ①10月27日（金）15:00〜 奥山由之 ポートフォリオレビュー（定員に達しました） ②10月28日（土）17:00〜 竹内万里子 × 奥山由之「flowers」をめぐって（定員に達しました） past related info: 奥山由之×edenworks Exhibition  "flowers"（2020年）VOGUE （May 18, 2020）（2020年）

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Artist Information 

奥山由之 

1991年東京生まれ。
第34回写真新世紀優秀賞受賞。第47回講談社出版文化賞写真賞受賞。
主な写真集に、『flowers』(赤々舎)、『As the Call, So the Echo』(赤々舎)、『BEST BEFORE』（青幻舎）、『POCARI SWEAT』(青幻舎)、『BACON ICE CREAM』(PARCO出版)、『Girl』(PLANCTON)、『君の住む街』(SPACE SHOWER BOOKS）、『Los Angeles / San Francisco』(Union publishing)、『The Good Side』(Editions Bessard)、『Ton! Tan! Pan! Don!』(bookshop M)、台湾版『BACON ICE CREAM』(原點出版)、などがある。
主な展覧会は、「As the Call, So the Echo」Gallery916、「BACON ICE CREAM」パルコミュージアム、「君の住む街」 表参道ヒルズ スペースオー、「白い光」キヤノンギャラリーS、「flowers」PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO、「THE NEW STORY」POST など。

Yoshiyuki Okuyama

Born in 1991 in Tokyo. 
He received the Canon New Cosmos of Photography Excellence Award in 2011 and the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award in Photography in 2016.
Published photo collections include flowers (Akaaka Art Publishing), As the Call, So the Echo (Akaaka Art Publishing), BEST BEFORE (Seigensha)、POCARI SWEAT (Seigensha), BACON ICE CREAM (Parco Publishing; Taiwanese edition, Uni-Books), Girl (Plancton), Kimi no sumu machi (The Town You Live In; Space Shower Books), Los Angeles / San Francisco (Union Publishing), The Good Side (Editions Bessard), and Ton! Tan! Pan! Don! (bookshop M); 

Major exhibitions in Tokyo, As the Call, So the Echo (Gallery916), Bacon Ice Cream (Parco Museum), Kimi no sumu machi (Omotesando Hills Space O), White Light (Canon Gallery S), flowers (Parco Museum Tokyo), and The New Story (Post).

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Related Items

奥山由之 『windows』（特別限定版）	奥山由之 『windows』	奥山由之 『As the Call, So the Echo』 （Out of stock)