“Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”
This is the title of Gauguin’s famous painting, but apparently when I was six years old, I asked my mother almost the same question one night while crying. I heard about this later. It’s probably one of humanity’s universal questions.
I traveled through South America for nearly a year, searching for a town to live in. I place neon signs in towns that have become landscapes in my memory. Then I experience an illusion that the place I’ve passed through is alive in the photograph (as if I’m witnessing an ‘now’ that repeats eternally).
WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Even as hairless apes, humanity’s journey continues.
An Island on a Tributary of the Amazon, Brazil
It was a small island with a soccer field, a school, and a few shops. Just as I passed the church and came in front of a store, a dog caught up from behind and raised its leg.
An Island with Traditional Life on a Tributary of the Amazon, Brazil
During the dry season, houses sat quite high above the water level, with chicks and puppies cooling off underneath. The anaconda skin that the house owner had caught stretched from one end of the room to the other.
A Floating Shop on the Amazon River, Brazil
At night, I went along for spearfishing. The boat moved silently through the azure darkness, while flashlight beams darted through the water searching for fish. Startled fish leaped in arcs, sometimes landing in our boat. The floating kiosk was closed, but a boy was mending his nets.
Night Walk in a Dry Town
I traveled in search of a pottery village and arrived at this town. I stayed for a month, immersed in stone sculpture and pottery making. Two families provided me with accommodation. The seemingly eternal everyday life always exists within the journey.
The Port Town of Departure
As my departure deadline approached, I headed to a town at the mouth of the Amazon. From this town, a month-long boat journey would begin, traveling upstream toward the border. First, I went to buy a hammock to sleep in on the boat.
Dusk by the Sea, Ecuador
The September sea was still cold. I walked endlessly along the shallow shore where plovers ran about and groups of iguanas napped together in the shade of trees.
Sea Lion Lighthouse
As I approached the lighthouse visible in the distance, a sea lion was sleeping at the entrance. Sea lions were also sleeping on the spiral staircase inside. There were sea lions sleeping on the top observation deck too. Together with them, I became a lighthouse keeper until sunset.
