Japanese photographer Hitoshi Fugo (b. 1947)’s still-life studies explore a single subject’s nuanced multi-faceted expressions until the subject becomes detached from its category, meaning, or identity. He commits to ongoing experimentation to dismantle these boundaries.
The KAMI series is one of his most ambitious yet long-silenced projects. In 2001, Fugo began photographing the large burnt paper roll that had been sitting in the corner of his studio for six or seven years. One day, around 1993, he walked past a printing factory destroyed by fire and saw cleaning workers leaving half-burnt rolls of paper on the ground. Fugo asked them not to throw them away and later brought them to his studio. The salvaged objects, destroyed by violence (fire) and too chaotic for human control, inspired the artist, particularly after witnessing and photographing the aftermath of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995.
Fugo decided to document each stage and progress of destruction, sometimes adding new physical forces such as cutting through a thick wall of paper with a chainsaw, investigating the violence lurking within himself. The result is an unsettling yet fascinating visual rhapsody consisting of 31 black-and-white images that delves into the essence of paper, with its cut and burnt surfaces powerfully exposed. In 2023, he attempted to document the end of that life cycle by burning the paper roll again on the shore, imagining its particles flying into the air like feathers peeling away. But this was not possible due to the weather. This series, in which he tries to capture the paper’s transformation by an irresistible external force, was shown only once in Japan in 2001 and has never been shown overseas until now. Paper in Japanese is kami, a homonym of god. The artist gave the title, KAMI, to this body of work, implying the absence of god in today’s destructive world. The exhibition includes 11 images from the series, two of which were photographed in 2023 of the same paper roll.
All works are available in two image sizes: 21 3/8x 16 7/8 in (M, edition of 10) and 35 1/4 x 27 1/8 in (L, edition of 5). The price starts at USD/EURO 3,000 for the M size and USD/EURO 6,500 for the L size. The frame will be sold separately at USD/EURO 500 for the M size and €800 for the L size.