Say something about yourself
At various public places mainly in Asia, I’m walking around and taking photographs at my own pace. It’s a seeking of the way of confronting the scenes where anyone can see (= general society), from my individual eyes.
What is this series?
Like many people, I am interested in “humanity” and trying to express it. But perhaps there is a difference in the process. Following from Darwin’s theory of evolution, we are on the extension of plants and animals — therefore, human beings can also be defined as “a part of nature”.
Despite this fact, when thinking about “nature”, most people ignore the human component and praise only the parts that are green, lush and wild. Truly, are “nature” and “human” incompatible with each other? Are they located at the opposite end? If so, I conversely thought that pursuing “unnaturalness” could emphasize “humanity”.
This is the theme of this project. I intentionally photographed “unnaturalness made by human and artifact” in public spaces of various regions, but I have not done any staging or photoshop. In other words, it’s also a “natural appearance of modern times” taken in a snap style.
How/When did you start this series?
My every photo series don’t have any clearly start point. Always on the street, I push the shutter button when I feel “something”. And after observation of the selected photos, I name to “something” as a photo project. By stacking such activities, I try to affirm this world’s fragments and my life one by one. If I tell about the timing of the naming to this series, it was at 2016. But it’s not completed. I often re-select the photos for my just right feeling.
What message do you want to tell the audience?
It’s a question rather than a message.
“What do you think the difference between human and nature is?”
“Does the difference really bring happiness to us?
Any news or updates?
Not yet. But recently I’m interested in making book and printing photos. I want to do something about that in 2018. And I want to go travel abroad more and more.
Mankichi Shinshi (born in 1984) is street / documentary / travel photographer based in Japan. He started photography in 2013 with self-taught style.
http://www.mankichi44.com/
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/mankichi44
