Japanese photographer Masaki Yamamoto's deeply personal family photographs are currently striking viewers with their remarkable candor at the Minds Eye gallery in Paris. The exhibition, titled 'At Home,' presents an unflinching look at his family's life in all its spontaneity, displaying neither embarrassment nor any trace of exhibitionism or self-indulgence.
These powerful images carry what critics describe as 'the force of veracity' – beautiful, bold, and surprising photographs that remain permanently etched in viewers' memories. The series documents Yamamoto's own family through an intimate lens that reveals both struggles and resilience across generations.
The photographer's personal narrative adds profound depth to the visual story he presents. Yamamoto explains that his family lived in their current home for 18 years, but their journey to stability was marked by significant hardship. Before securing their present residence, the family lived in a housing complex until they were forced to leave due to unpaid rent. This led to an extraordinarily difficult period when Yamamoto was in third grade – the entire family had to live in a car for approximately one month.
The crisis deepened when Yamamoto and his siblings were subsequently sent to children's institutions, effectively breaking up the family unit. It took two and a half years before the family could reunite and live together again, though Yamamoto recalls that poverty continued to define their circumstances even after their reunion.
As the Yamamoto children grew up, they each faced various challenges that would shape their character and family bonds. Their experiences included being bullied, periods of social withdrawal, illness, and behavioral problems. These difficult experiences became interwoven with the broader Yamamoto family history, ultimately forming the foundation of their current lives and the strong familial connections they share today.
Yamamoto describes feeling a profound connection to his family's mindset and value system, including their attractions, moral compass, and understanding of right and wrong. Through documenting their lives, he has come to realize that this family represents his origin point and the place he will always return to, regardless of where life takes him.
The photographer acknowledges that viewers may respond to his work with either sympathy or contempt, but he encourages deeper reflection on these reactions. 'What do they sympathize with and how do they despise?' he asks, hoping that his photographs will inspire people to examine their own family relationships and consider what constitutes happiness in their lives.
Masaki Yamamoto was born in 1989 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, and graduated from the Japan Institute of Photography and Film in 2012. His exhibition 'At Home' ran from November 7 to December 2, 2017, at Minds Eye gallery, located at 221 rue Saint-Jacques in Paris's 5th arrondissement.
