Kouta Takahashi

Photographer / Born in Japan, 1986. In 2011, he participated in the Great East Japan Earthquake reconstruction support activities, which led me to journey alone around Japan for about five years to study society. He became interested in photography as a means of expressing the "doubts about society" that I felt during my  journeys, and began creating works. Since 2019, he has been exhibiting her work both in Japan and abroad, including holding solo exhibitions and participating in art fairs.

The visual story work '80°05′, which explores the motives of the explorers and which he began working on in 2020, shortlisted for the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles 2022. The work has also attracted attention, including being featured in the Taiwanese art web media 'WONDER'.

髙橋 こうた

写真家 / 1986年 秋田県生まれ。2011年 東日本大震災の復興支援活動を機に、社会勉強のため約5年に渡り日本各地をひとり旅する。その道中で感じた「社会に対する疑問」の表現手段として写真に関心を持ち作家活動を開始。2019年より個展開催やアートフェア参加など国内外で作品を発表している。2020年に制作着手した冒険家の動機を探るストーリー作品「80°05′」は、アルル国際写真祭2022のダミーブックアワードでショートリストに選出。また台湾のアートメディア WONDER に取り上げられるなど注目を集めている。

Instagram｜@kouta.t14

My work is mainly based on the theme of "doubts about society".

It covers a wide range of topics, from the trivial things we feel close to home to the social issues facing Japan to topics that are common to the rest of the world. This was inspired by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. I felt as if I became more self-aware as a member of society for the first time when I participated in the reconstruction assistance volunteer program.

From the following year, 2012, I journeyed around Japan on my own for about five years to study society. In the process, while talking with various people, I witnessed many problems in daily life, such as depopulation in rural areas, the threat of the disappearance of traditional culture, the destruction of nature and the damage caused by climate change. It was through this experience that he began to produce his first work, set in his hometown of Akita. The subject was my grandfather, and it was a record of his casual everyday life. In fact, after the exhibition, some of the visitors became interested in Akita and visited the site.

As a photographer, what I want to do is not to transmit facts that are already known to the world, but to spend time confronting the people living in the middle of the vortex, and to express in my photographic work what I have truly understood. My motivation for creating artworks is my personal curiosity to learn more about society, but if the artworks can be useful in some way in the lives of those who view them, that would be my ideal.

Kouta Takahashi

私は主に「社会に対する疑問」をテーマに作品制作を行っています。

それは身近で感じる些細なことから日本が抱える社会問題、さらには世界共通の話題など多岐にわたります。きっかけは2011年の東日本大震災。復興支援ボランティアに参加した私は、その時 初めて社会人として自覚を持てたような感覚がありました。既に会社員を数年経験していたにも関わらずです。

そして2012年より約5年間、社会勉強のため日本各地をひとり旅しました。その過程で現地の人々と対話しながら、地方の過疎化や伝統文化の消滅危機、自然破壊や気候変動による被害など、様々な現実を目の当たりにしました。その経験を通じて初めて制作に取り組んだのが、生まれ故郷 秋田を舞台にした作品です。被写体は実家に暮らす祖父で、何気ない日常生活を記録したもの。実際 個展の開催後、鑑賞者の中で秋田に関心を持ち現地を訪れてくれた方もいました。

既に世間で語られているような事実を発信するのではなく、その渦中に生きる人々と時間をかけて向き合い、自分なりに理解できた本心を作品として表現すること。創作活動の根底にあるのは「社会を知りたい」という個人的な好奇心ですが、その作品が鑑賞いただいた方の人生においても何かしらお役に立てたら幸いです。

髙橋こうた