「一个人」 西岡広聡
「Encounter with a man」 Hirotoshi Nishioka
2 0 0 8年1月下旬、僕は南京市街にある中山埠頭と長江対岸の浦口埠頭との間を結ぶ連絡船のデッキで、手すりに寄り掛かり、微動だにしない男をその脇から眺めていた。
撮影のために訪れた南京は数日前からの大寒波により底冷えする日々が続き、春節（旧暦での正月）前の多忙な時期にもかかわらず、数十年ぶりの豪雪に見舞われ、交通機関の麻痺、停電や断水が発生していた。駅や市場などの一角は混乱の様相を呈していたが、市街地はその寒さゆえに人々の往来は少なく、いつもの雑踏とは異なる表情を見せていた。どんよりとした陰鬱な空と、街中から漂う建物の無機質さが、奇妙なコントラストを浮かべ、人の欲望が感じられない閉じた世界の中にいるようだった。
加速度的な転換期の直中において、失われるものと残されるものの境界は、次から次へと生み出されるものに浸食され、急激にそれまでのバランスが崩れはじめる。持つ者と持たざる者の段差が一層広がり、社会的な変容に付いていけない者は、次第に現実と生活することとが乖離してゆく。人々は遅れを取るまいと他者を顧みず、利己的な考えに染まってしまう。
しかし、太古より変わらぬ長江の流れに身を任せ、全てを受け入れるかのごとく立ち尽くすこの男は、眼前の世界が黙示するものを等価に捉え、対立の存在しない、恒久のしじまの中にいるようだった。僕は彼を写し、平面に定着することでこの時間を止め、その眼になにが映っているのか確かめようとした。
It wasback in the end of January 2008, was watching a man, leaning against handrails, who does not move one slight bit on the deck of connecting ferry between Zhongshan Bay in Nanjing downtown and Pukou Bay, which is located on the other side of the Changjiang from his side.
I was visiting Nanjing for a photo shoot and it had been extremely chilly for the past few days. It was in the middle of a busy season right before the Chinese New Year, however, snow had been record high in the past few decades and transportation system went numb and electricity and water had been down.
Corners near the station and markets had been in chaos, but there was hardly any crowd in the downtown are a due to the coldness and it was revealing a different facial expression than usual. Depressing heavy sky and inorganic-ness of buildings around town had created a strange contrast. It felt as though I was a closed world where youc ould not feel people's desires.
In the midst of rapid changes, the line drawn between what is to be lost and what will remain has been invaded by what is being manufactured one after another and the balance kept up to this point is being destroyed so quickly. The gap between "haves" and "have-nots" gets bigger and bigger and those who cannot follow through all the changes will experience a separation in reality and everyday living. People become too busy not to fall behind and dye themselves in selfish attitude without caring for others.
However,surrounding himself to the flow of Changjiang river, which has not changed since the ancient times, the man,who is standing as if to accept everything, seemed to capture what the world in front implies silently as equal and he seemed to be present in the permanent silence with no opponent to face.I captured his image onto a timeless flat surface in order to see what was reflecting on his very eyes.