ayaka endo
photographer
ISSUE 1 2024 SS
Last year, Ayaka Endo released “Swaying Flowers”, a new book compiling recreations of works fromher days at Tokyo University of the Arts. Snapshots of flowers are transferred onto a piece of fabric and chopped up, giving a three-dimensional touch to the two-dimensional expression. Pretty little flowers are blurred and covered with blown out highlights, making them look somewhat very raw. What does photography mean to her?
“I enjoyed taking pictures since I was in middle school. It was a girl’s school and all my friends were pretty, so I tried to capture their stirring teenage moments with my camera. I chose to study design in university and also did some designing work, but it did not interest me and felt more like doing errands. Time just passed by in university as I could not find any goal in my studies, nor a company in which I wanted to work for after I graduated. When I chose photography for my graduation project, people who saw that started tooffer me jobs as a photographer.”
If the initial purpose of photography is to capture a moment in time, Endo’s approach to attentively confront with the subject may seem to step away from that purpose. At the same time, she has always loved to take snapshots of the flowers. Her archive is full of flower shots using various cameras from iPhone, film camera, SLR to Polaroids. In fact, many notorious photographers, from Robert Mapplethorpe and Irving Penn to Nobuyoshi Araki and Risaku Suzuki, chose flowers as their photographic subject. What was it that drove Endo to choose flowers as her photographic motif?
“Looking back, it was deeply intertwined with gender issues. Now I’m mentally stable and know that I don’t have to be feminine if I don’t want to. But in my adolescence and early twenties I was tormented by social gender stereotypes. Today we are more open about the subject and are able to verbalize the issues, but back then I was just full of anxiety. I identified with the flowers as they are judged by their appearance just the same as women. Cut flowers especially are displayed for decoration but they wither with time, they just get thrown away. The ephemeral beauty of the flowers overlapped with woman’s life and gave me mixed emotions. This probably drove me to print them on fabric and tear them. I was trying to confine myself into the pressed flowers when I created them. I can understand that now, but I do not feel that way anymore.”
The idea of “animism” is rooted in Endo’s work, as her photography started with choosing flowers and expanded to capturing animals. “For me, animism is about looking at nature and discovering something in it. It is also about freeing yourself and finding your connection to nature, even for a moment. I get that feeling when I am taking pictures and it is just so precious. Instead of taking time and working closely with the subject, the experience is more immersive, as if I have flipped the switch and I just keep taking rapid shots. I remember having such moments since I was a little girl which gave me great comfort.
Whenever you feel down your ego reveals itself, but in these moments all those negative feelings are released, and you can break free. Capturing the flower series was truly one of those experiences.”
In closing, we asked Endo about her unyielding commitment in her process of creation. “As this may relate to my background of studying design, I always pay attention to the composition of the photography. As a matter of fact, I prefer looking at paintings more than photographs. I value colours and compositions in my photography in the same way I see paintings. I like artists who paint large abstract paintings, such as Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly. Recently, I really enjoy looking at Hilma af Klint’s work, a painter born in Sweden in 1862. She was a mystic and started abstract paintings even before Kandinsky, and I may have been spiritually influenced by her.
Based in Tokyo. She create photography works with the theme of animistic nature, bydigitally simulating human intervention in natural settings. Her main exhibitions include solo exhibition Kamuy Mosir (2021, KITTE Marunouchi, Tokyo), solo exhibition the belief in Spiritual Beings (2022, NADiff Gallery, Tokyo), and participation in the Asama International Photo Festival 2022. She has also received recognition such as winning the New Photo
Century 2021 Honorable Mention award (selected by Yuki Onodera).
INTERVIEW: Mika Koyanagi
Questionnaire
1
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What do you do?
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Photographer
2
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Tell us what you love the most about your job.
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To have a reason to travel far away
3
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What made you start your current job?
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Covid pandemic
4
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Who are the most influential persons in your life?
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My parents. Because I believe that the environment we grow up in is the foundation
of who we are.
5
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Describe yourself in 3 words
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Sensory, freewheeling and head in the clouds
6
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What is the thing that you are very interested in now?
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Witchcraft and koji fermentation
7
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What are three things you cannot live without?
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Traveling, nature and the people I care about
8
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What do you always have on you?
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iPhone, cigarettes and a lighter
9
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Tell us about your morning routine.
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10
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What is your favorite drink?
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Guava juice
11
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What do you get immersed in, losing track of time?
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While I’m taking photos.
12
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What is the ultimate luxury for you?
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The morning light, a big white bed, to be in the ocean, to be on a boat
13
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When do you feel stimulated or inspired?
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When I meet someone interesting.
14
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What is your favorite color?
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White, grey, red and light blue
15
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What is your favorite taste of food?
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Salt and sugar
16
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What is the most important decision you have made in your life?
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I’m about to make them.
17
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What was the most moving moment in your life?
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The first times I climbed a mountain, looked inside the sea, saw a meteor shower, heard someone singing and saw a painting.
18
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What is the most recent book you have finished reading?
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Midori Iseki by Stephanie Kanto Ota, What is Gaza by Mari Oka and The White Book by Han Kang.
I’m currently reading The Spiral Dance by Starhawk.
19
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Who is your favorite author?
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Mieko Kawakami
20
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What are your three favorite books on the bookshelf?
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Ami, Child of the Stars by Enrique Barrios, Anastasia by Valdimir Megre and The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho.
21
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Where would you like to go for a trip?
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Yakushima island
22
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Which country would you like to visit in the future?
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Iceland
23
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Where is your favorite hotel?
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24
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What is the most memorable place you've visited?
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Cape Ose in Izu Peninsula, Ojika in Nagasaki, Toyooka in Hyogo and Akan in Hokkaido
25
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Where is home for you?
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26
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What is your favorite recent song?
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27
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Who’s your favorite singer?
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28
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What is the one song you can listen to all the time?
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29
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What are your three favorite movies?
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La Belle Verte by Coline Serreau
30
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What are some of your favorite movies you've seen recently?
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Perfect Days by Wim Wenders
Close Your Eyes by Víctor Erice
Poor things by Yórgos Lánthimos
31
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When you meet someone for the first time, what is the first point that catches your eye?
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The eyes
32
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Which word do you use to greet friends?
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33
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What is the best advice you have received from people?
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To always be grateful
34
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What do you wear in bed?
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My underwear
35
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What is your motto?
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Everything is gonna be all right.