Narahashi's "Half Awake, Half Asleep..." series caught my eye- the painterly quality of light, the physicality (weight, texture, movement) of the water, the sense calm coexisting with a feeling of danger. I want to know what equipment she uses, I'm sure some sort of water-proof device. I'm drawn to the idea of purposefully plunging my camera into the water. Underwater housing? Holga in a ziplock bag?
At times the half in/half out begins to feel like a gimmick, something I want to be careful to stay away form in my own work. In the afterward to her book by the same title, reviewer Martin Parr writes "What I really admire about these images is that this juxtaposition has been explored so thoroughly. It feels resolved; everything that could have been explored, has been achieved. It is now a closed mystery". (last page) I hope it's not a "closed mystery". Narahashi's work since the "Half Awake/Half Asleep" series builds on the same foundation.
This work makes me miss the beach, my hometown, and makes me want to jump in to the water with my camera. The idea of presenting a half in-half out moment resonates with my cultural & personal identity. And though the work shows the half-half moment, I'm attracted to it because it has the sense that it could only be done with complete conviction. Narahashi couldn't take these pictures standing on the shore stretching her arms towards the sea and pointing the camera back towards land. She couldn't partially jump in. All or nothing. I hope that my work can convey that as well.
Artist Biography
1959 Born Tokyo, Japan
1998 Newcomer’s Award from the Photographic Society of Japan
2003 Society of Photography Award
2 Quotes - provide quotes with MLA citations commenting on ideas you are interested in the artist you are highlighting
1. "Not in the water, but the water´s edge. The resulting photographs were of a sort that I couldn’t tell whether they were not wanting to go over to the other side (= other world), but standing on this side (= this world) and peeping over a the other side, or looking over at this side from the other side."
A. Narahashi: Kiss in the Dark. Tokyo 2001
2. "Her works [...] somehow make visible as a shared recognition the image of the sea that people embrace. Therein, an uncomfortable felling like seasickness and a pleasurable feeling of floating and entrusting yourself to the sea lodge side by side.[...] They call forth an ambivalent feeling.
Michiko Kasahara: Kiss in the Dark. Tokyo 2001
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