Carved Land

My work "Carved Land" features photographs of scarecrows in abandoned villages in Japan. Lonely elderly people in these villages, which are significantly impacted by declining birth rates, aging populations, and emigration to the Tokyo metropolitan area, have created numerous scarecrows that depict daily rural life, such as plowing fields, fishing, and playing with a ball. These scarecrows are arranged on the streets to look like actual people living in the countryside, creating a parallel world that reflects the nostalgic memories and ideals of the villagers. Encountering these scarecrows suddenly illuminated by headlights while navigating remote mountainous terrain at night, I initiated photography using a strobe. The resultant images of faceless scarecrows impart an ethereal quality reminiscent of ghosts, blurring the boundary between humanity and inanimate objects, reality and fiction. Silently standing amidst a landscape evocative of ruins, these scarecrows encapsulate not only a recreation of bygone memories but also serve as harbingers of Japan's future, characterized by an unabated population decline.