cairn by Shigeta Kobayashi

A collection of works by Japanese photographer Shigeta Kobayashi.

This book is a collection of photographs taken during a one-month trip to Iceland to contemplate the concept of "being an individual." During his stay, he continued his journey by walking, a primitive means of transportation, while carrying a tent. The photographs, taken intuitively and like an extension of snapshots, strongly reflect the aspect of a personal journey as a record.

"This is a record of my disaster. When my wife and I had a child, I felt as if something inside me was disappearing. I wasn't thinking about anything, and I couldn't think of anything in particular, just staring out the window. I found myself vaguely pondering the concept of "individuality." What was the meaning of that definition in the first place? Or what was it that connected me to the world? Anyway, I faced these questions by being alone.

From the streets of unfamiliar towns to misty mountain roads, I continued walking without a destination. The white nights messed with my sense of time, the unfamiliar camping made the boundary between inside and outside unclear, and even the route shown by the GPS sometimes made me doubtful. And before I knew it, I was pressing the shutter before I could think. A conversation in a foreign language, an empty backyard, the wind rustling the tent, the unremarkable ground. The trivial things that appeared one after another changed the standards I had thought of as reality." (Excerpt from the author's statement)

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Title: Cairn
Artist: Shigeta Kobayashi
Self-published, 2020
Softcover, 150 x 220 mm
192 pages
First edition of 300 copies