Background information, personal statement by photographer Miki HASEGAWA

"In March 2016, the Japanese Academy of Pediatrics announced that an estimated 350 children in the country have died as a result of maltreatment. According to the Ministry of Health, Education and Welfare, about 90 children die each year as a result of maltreatment, including forced doubling suicide. That means 260 child deaths are overlooked.
'Internal Notebook' is a notebook about the emotional cries of children who grew up in abusive families. I portrayed them, along with the diaries and notebooks they kept. I also tried to show what their parents were like by arranging their childhood photographs and important possessions that evoked memories of those days. It seemed to me that their parents were no different from the rest of us in thinking that we were normal parents. The people in this book don't just feel hatred and resentment toward their parents. There are people who feel anger toward themselves, feel unchanging sadness, and even wonder if they need to forgive their parents when they are desperately keeping themselves alive. So we can see that those who tormented them were not only their parents, but equally other adults in society." (freely translated, © Miki HASEGAWA)

Content

The photo book project 'Internal Notebook' by Miki HASEGAWA is an attempt to visualize the invisible sufferings and traumas of abused children from her perspective as a mother and possible child abuser. She made portraits of them and collected and edited materials that kept memories of their childhood alive, such as diaries, notebooks and photographs.
The 'Internal Notebook' dummy, then titled 'Quiet ... ', was created during the Photo Book Masterclass by Dutch book designers Teun VAN DER HEIJDEN and Sandra van der Doelen, and Yumi Goto, director of Reminders Photography Stronghold (RPS). She then further developed the book under the guidance of Yumi Goto and published it in a very small edition of only sixty-six copies. After the edition sold out, her dummy received special mention during PHOTOBOOX 2017, part of the PHOTOLUX International Photography Festival in Lucca, Italy. This award led to the release of this dummy as a trade edition of 500 copies. The cover design and binding technique were renewed and some of the images were revised. The Trade Edition became bilingual, Japanese and English. Otherwise, the Trade Edition is a faithful reproduction of Miki HASEGAWA's photo book." (free translation of the text, © Reminders Project)

Additional information

This limited edition of 500 copies of the photo book 'Internal Notebook' by Miki HASEGAWA was published in ring binder format. In addition to 88 photographs on 228 pages, it consists of 16 additional inserts and 17 fold-out pages. The bilingual text consists of English and Japanese.