L: From the series Borderland (11×14″ Lambda print* on baryta paper) R: From the series Coastline (8×10″ Pigment print) *Printed by professional lab Shashin Kosha, 2021
Participated as a guest in a regular meeting of the tourism association, cultural property researchers, and city cultural assets division staff. / 普段は自治会の月例役員会議で訪れるコミュニティルーム
シンポジウム『タイポグラフィ・タイプフェイスのいま』
女子美術大学 2004
Symposium “Today’s Typography and Typeface”
Letters for Printing in Digital Age
Joshibi University of Art and Design 2004
January 17, 2025 | Near the PGI gallery. Raymond Hagewoud (@hedgeforest), a Kampen, Netherlands-based photographer, walked with me around the Roppongi and Azabu areas and viewed several exhibitions. He gave me a present: The art book “Arnordir” by French artist Florian Maricourt. Arigatou. PLAUBEL makina 67, ILFORD HP5 PLUS, Self-development (Fujifilm Microfine 20℃ 8’30”, SILVERCHROME Rapid Fixer)
[EN] Black-winged damselflies live in places where there is clean water. Instead of hovering like dragonflies, they flutter as butterflies do. People call them kami no tsukai (“messengers from the divine”). Populations of these creatures, which are emblematic of areas with spring water like ours, are shrinking year by year, and in Tokyo they have been declared an endangered species. In Japan, dragonflies and damselflies, which only ever fly forwards, are nicknamed Kachimushi (“victory insects”) for their fortitude and seen as good luck symbols. In English-speaking countries, the name for the suborder of insects called tonbo in Japan is “dragonflies”, while the name for the suborder called itotonbo here is “damselflies”. A damsel is noblewoman or a maiden. Having very dark, jewel-like wings, the black-winged damselfly is also called the “ebony jewelwing”.
The design: I used coarse paper, as I wanted to give the impression of ink painting on aged hemp paper. Fifty copies of this folding book were created at the request of a local tourism association that organizes guided walks as part of its educational and cultural activities. For the benefit of participants in the event where the books are distributed, the information on the black-winged damselfly is printed on the reverse, allowing it to be read even when the paper is folded, and the illustrations showing how to fold the paper are positioned so as to be invisible after folding. This handmade book can also be displayed like a traditional East Asian folding screen.
B4 variant format 348 x 250mm
Folding book 58 x 125mm
16 pages, 12 photos (from the series Eden)
Pigment print on coarse paper
Edition of 50
Photographs, Illustration and Text by Masato Ninomiya
Translation by Michael Normoyle and Yoshiko Furuhashi at M&Y Translations, Rotherham, UK