ABE, Yu-ki - Trace of Fog

TO PRE-ORDER (especially for the SPECIAL ED. WITH PRINT!)

"A deep fog usually envelops Mount Kirigamine (literally 'Summit of Fog'). Once the mountain is covered by the fog, all boundaries disappear, and the fog seems to extend into infinity.

A while ago, the mountain was home to a ski resort, large enough to include two ski jumping platforms. The mountain was a candidate to play host to the Olympic Winter Games.
Further back in time, the entire mountain was once designated as hunting grounds. The Kamakura shogunate 800 years ago organized large hunting events in which the samurai competed with each other. Shinto rites held at temple ruins still remaining in the mountain pastures convey these ancient times to our present age.

Today, too, there are a number of building complexes on the mountain that have outlived their usefulness. These abandoned structures appear like fresh ruins that will tell future generations of our times.

'Trace' is a word used in mountaineering. It is used to denote alterations made by those who came before you. As climbers move through a mountain, they effect various changes. Paths change or disappear. They overlap each other like layers on a rock bed, their surface covered by the fog.

The fog lasts mere moments. It comes then disappears. It seems to swallow all and everything but soon vanishes into nothingness. It reminds me of our human existence. Ancient ruins and present buildings, too, are only transient presences on the mountain’s surface. Measured in the time scale of the mountain, humanity’s traces are but a momentary presence, just like fog.

Fog has no beginning, no end. I follow the path, looking for the traces it has left behind." (publisher's note)


Special ed. is:
a book with archival pigment print (8*10), signed and numberd, ltd. to 44 cps.: one of each of the 44 images

In JAPANESE:
"霧ヶ峰は名前の由来通り、しばしば濃い霧が立ち込める山だ。霧に覆われると境目が消え、どこまでも先に続いているような錯覚を覚えた”（後書きより）

中世より野焼きが行われ、武士が腕を競う場でもあった霧ヶ峰、そこで長期間の撮影を続けた阿部の第1作となる写真集です。霧で覆われ時間の感覚を失った世界は現在でもあり過去でもあり未来でもあります。

そんな世界を定点観測的な視点で捉えた光景は驚くほどに静かで、そして幻想的で見るものの目を奪います。連綿と続いてきた時間をさらに後世へとバトンタッチするには十分に優れたスケールの大きい視野の作品はこれからの日本を代表する作家の一人になることを確信させてくれます。