Qualia

 

 
November  2017
Publisher : Kunihiro Takahashi
TOSEI-SHA publishing Co., Ltd
Designer : Saki Shiraiwa
Translator : Kiriko Shirobayashi
Editor : Ai Yumoto
Printed and Bound : TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.
Printing Art Director : Kouji Sugiyama
Business Manager : Naotaka Ino
 
96pages(90images) / Hard cover
245×165mm

ISBN：978-4-88773-183-7 C0072
3,500JPY 
 
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(From the text of Qualia) 
 

For instance, if I said, “It is a beautiful blue sky, ” and even though you answered, “Yes, it is”, would it be the same blue?
“Would you recognize the same beauty as I?”, I thought.
 
I sometimes ask these questions to myself, but there will never be an answer.
So, if someone says, “It is a beautiful blue sky”, we would reply, “Yes, it is. ” Over time,
we would stop having our own interpretation, and rely on automated responses to the words “blue” and “beauty”.
To begin with, our daily conversations are not set in stone, are flexible. 
 
This photography book takes us away from this world where we rely on automated words. 
Is the gentle light seen in the dark the glow of a firefly?
Is it alive?
Is it part of this world, or something beyond?
What we look at through the lens is beyond what we can usually classify as ‘here’ or ‘there’ us.
The experience of looking at familiar subjects from a new angle gives us both freedom and feeling of uncertainty.
 
We usually rely on concrete words and expressions to describe our experiences, however this cannot accurately convey them.
 
“Qualia.” The title elucidates the insurmountable gap in our communication. Still I cannot help but imagine, “How does this reflect in your eyes?”