About the Project

I exchanged photos of light and shadow by email with 15 friends who are from different countries. Each participant took photos of light and shadow, which they accidentally encountered in everyday life from August to December in 2011. They sent those photos to me and I replied also with photos. In this way, we kept exchanging images like having conversations but without words. The total number of corrected photos was 279.      

There were some reasons that I chose photography as a tool for this project. Firstly, camera is suitable to document instant emergence of light and shadow. Secondly, the relationship of people with light and shadow might be different depending on the environment and photos enable to compare the differences visually. Thirdly, the act of taking photos will help the participants to be aware of light and shadow around them and also helps to discover new sensation in actual light and shadow beyond any preconceptions.  

The participants were my friends –five English, a Spaniard, a German, a Finn, a Norwegian, a Dutch woman, an American, a Brazilian, a Russian and one more Japanese. They took photos not only in their home countries but also in France, Iceland, New Zealand, Morocco and South Africa. We shared our overall experiences later by email. By doing this project with people from different cultures, I aimed to see how different people interpret or perceive light and shadow in the reality of everyday life beyond cultural backgrounds.

Emiko Tokai

.