Photo exhibition by Sumio YUMITA

I have always loved acquiring old photographs at antiquarian bookstores and auctions and looking at them and thinking about them. I would look at them and think, "When and where were these pictures taken? "What kind of life did this person lead? "Is this person still alive and well? I began to wonder about the natural fact that the unknown person in the old photographs had a will just like me, experienced many things, and really existed at one time.
Reading old photographs is like playing a game of imagination, but sometimes we discover unexpected facts (this may be what Roland Barthes called "punktum"). This is one of the pleasures of looking at old photographs. A single photograph contains an enormous amount of drama, including the life of the person in the photo and the path that the photo itself has taken. It is a strange coincidence that the photo, which was an important memento for someone, was given away for some reason and is now in my possession. The thought, "Where do events go that no one remembers?" is a thought that constantly haunts me. For me, photography is a mystery that will never be solved. This exhibition is based on the premise of such personal preferences. I first selected a single old photograph, picked out a few people from it, and developed a new "picture" and "photograph" using it as a motif. This is an attempt to spotlight "individuals" in the old photographs that would normally be overlooked. We hope to share with others the "fascination of thinking about the life of someone unknown.

Sumio YUMITA