庭という小さな場所で見る、密集した循環の歳月。

半世紀以上に渡りその庭で、野菜や植物を育て、草を毟り水を撒いてきた祖父。しかしその年齢が80 歳に差し掛かる頃、変化が訪れていた。それは、鬱蒼と育っては枯れるを繰り返し、絶え間ない変化を生む、自生する植物の存在。何を栽培しようとも、片隅から育つ雑草が祖父の瞳を一色に染めていた。植物の自由と祖父の手、二つの力が交差する。一粒の種子、一枚の葉、それぞれを数えるように、私は写真に撮り始めた。

撮影を始めてから6 年後、祖父はこの世から旅立った。残された庭は伯父のものとなり、家屋の付属物として意思なく存在している。定年を迎え、ゆっくりと呼吸をする期間に入った伯父にとって、日々は黄昏れるように過ぎていく。手から離れた植物は、土を埋め尽くすように繁茂して、葉擦れは絶えず鳴り響いている。庭は背景となった。

触れる緑に身を委ねるように写真を撮っていた。無言の植物に目を凝らし、葉の色形、土の粘度、微細な変化に目を合わす。そんなことを延々と続けている。ここはいつまでそのままなのか。植物なのか、誰なのか。私たちが暮らすその側で、写真を糸口として問い続ける。緑が土に人に浸透する。溶け入るような命の住処に私はいる。

The dense circle of time observed in the narrow space of a garden.

My grandfather had tended to his garden—growing vegetables, cutting weeds, watering regularly—for more than half a century. But something changed about the time he approached his 80th birthday. Weeds appeared, and with them the endless change brought about as part of their cycle of growth and withering. No matter what my grandfather tried to cultivate, the weeds provided the dominant color of the garden. The garden was a place of two intersecting forces: the cultivating hand of my grandfather and the freedom of the plants. I began to photograph each single seed, each single leaf in his garden, as if trying to catalogue them.

My grandfather passed away six years after I had started to take photographs. The garden has become the property of my uncle and now exists without guidance as an addition to his house. My uncle, who has retired and takes things more slowly now, watches the days fade away. Without the care of my grandfather, the plants have grown at will and now cover the ground, and the air is filled with the constant rustling of leaves. The garden itself has faded into the background.

I took my photographs by abandoning myself to the greenery around me. I gazed at the silent plants before me and observed the colors of their leaves, the condition of the soil, and every minute change. I kept doing so for many months and years. How long will this garden stay the same, I wonder. Or plants. Or people. Approaching these questions from my side of life, I will continue to look for answers with my photographs as clues. Plants spread out through the ground and permeate into us all. I am here in the domicile of life, ready to be absorbed.