Hojo
Mayumi Suzuki
Hojo
Photographs: Mayumi Suzuki
Publisher: T&M project
Year: 2022
Price: 45 €
Comments: Illustrated soft cover, perfect binding.
Latest book of Mayumi Suzuki, the maker or "The restoration will"
In Japanese, 豊穣 (HOJO) refers to an abundance of land or a good harvest. In English, it usually is translated as “fertility.” In Japan, women have traditionally been worshiped as goddesses of HOJO. The ideal being blessed with abundant crops and many children have been associated with them.
This project is based on my experience with in-vitro fertilization (IVF), which I started at the age of 41. I am trying to acknowledge my existence as an outlier. Photographing myself in the dark with a spotlight on me and an exposure of about 60 seconds gave me time to take a long, hard look at myself. At times, it reminded me of the anxious moments on the doctor’s examination chair, the pain of egg retrieval, and the faint anticipation of implantation. In other moments, I felt a sense of calm.
The doctor uses 60 seconds to examine the patient on the examination chair. He doesn't take much time to examine each woman. There are many of them coming to the clinic, one after the other. I had hoped to be examined more carefully. On my way home from the clinic, at the market, I found deformed vegetables that had not been sold. They looked miserable, like my own inability to conceive. So I thought of photographing and handling each vegetable gently.
For the process, I use Direct Positive Paper, and I work with a 4x5 inch camera. This method allows me to control the exposure to recreate the time of an examination at an IVF clinic.
I also used pictures of fertilized eggs that I received from the clinic. They are rough, pixelated pictures. From them, it’s hard to tell the difference between a fertilized egg that can get pregnant and one that cannot. When you zoom in, it's just a dot. If there is a factor in the hundreds of millions of cells in my body that is preventing me from conceiving, I have to look for that outlier. I am reminded of endless infertile land.
In this day and age, women can choose how they want to live. But sometimes they have to accept a fate that they have no control over. Even if my own body is not "fertile", I want to be proud of it because this is my life.
more books by Mayumi Suzuki
-
The Restoration Will (ONLY 87 COPIES)
by Mayumi Suzuki
sold -
The Restoration Will (CEIBA EDT)
by Mayumi Suzuki
sold
more books tagged »intimate« | >> see all
-
The Eighth Day
by Shan Gao
sold -
Come Closer
by Dinaya Waeyaert
sold -
DORI (SIGNED)
by Kaamna Patel
Euro 40 -
Self-Portraits
by Yurie Nagashima
sold -
Alessandro
by Arturo Russo
sold -
La Casa Que Sangra (Signed)
by Yael Martinez
sold
more books tagged »self portrait« | >> see all
-
Absentee
by Sayuri Ichida
sold -
Mr. Freedom
by Shomei Tomatsu
sold -
Samaras Album
by Lucas Samaras
sold -
KAWAII
by Chan Wai Kwong
sold -
Masquerade (Signed)
by Tomoko Sawada
sold -
Francesca Woodman
by Francesca Woodman
Euro 80
more books tagged »intimacy« | >> see all
-
a girl
by Hajime Sawatari
sold -
Sentimental na Tabi: Fuyu no Tabi
by Nobuyoshi Araki
Euro 75 -
goddess alien lover
by Valerie Phillips
sold -
artek un été en Crimée
by Claudine Doury
sold -
Hustlers
by Eve Fowler
sold -
Pretend You're Actually Alive (SIGNED)
by Leigh Ledare
sold
more books tagged »japanese« | >> see all
-
Asakusa Jidai (The Age of Asakusa)
by Ryo Oshida
Euro 150 -
Gesshoku / Lunar Eclipse
by Nobuyuki Wakabayashi
sold -
Son of a BIT
by Yasuhiko Uchihara
sold -
Wonderful Days
by Masahisa Fukase
sold -
Color
by Daido Moriyama
sold -
TOKYO ON THE BRINK OF SANITY (SIGNED)
by Yoshio Mizoguchi
sold
more books tagged »T&M projects« | >> see all
-
Into the light (ONLY 30 COPIES WITH A PRINT)
by Yusuke Yamatani
sold -
Into the light (SIGNED)
by Yusuke Yamatani
sold -
Blind date (Signed)
by Lieko Shiga
sold
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com