Washio Kazuhiko

Washio Kazuhiko takes portraits of people in a calm and dispassionate manner, yet the images seem to contain so much more beneath the surface. I particularly enjoyed his newest series, Passengers in the Far East, perhaps because I’m working (planning actually) on something similar right now.

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TOP TO BOTTOM, from (” Passengers in the Far East“)
© Washio Kazuhiko, 2008

The series captures the tensions that exist within individuals whilst traveling through places in Asia. The portraits were all shot within the same hostel in Tokyo’s Taito Ward where weary backpackers call home in the bustling metropolis.

The tiny three-tatami mat room gradually becomes a part of themselves as the days pass. This room is a weightless space cut off both from their hometowns and the magnetic fields of Tokyo, a my-space that belongs to nowhere in particular, except to the ever-changing “floating world” of the hotel.

See more of the series here.