《Take Me Home（帰る場所を探して）（火を拾いに行こう）》
Take Me Home (Looking for a place to go home) (Let's go pick up some fires)
2020
Photography / Cyanotype / Inkjet print, Cotton
味土野の宿舎「ガラシャ荘」にて展示
―「大京都 in 京丹後 Landscape Rippers 2」出展作品―
私は、京都でのアーティスト・イン・レジデンス・プログラムを通して、京丹後市の山奥にある「味土野」（みどの）という超過疎の村に、２０１８年から２０２１年までの４年間訪れ続けた。
私が初めて味土野に訪れた当時は、２人の移住者だけが住んでいた味土野に、２０２０年には新しく助産師の女性、小松恵美（こまつ・めぐみ）さんが移住していた。
彼女に会ってお話を聴くと、自分の“理想の生き方”のために古い家に住み、山道で薪を拾い、火を焚き、ご飯を作っていた。
しかしさらにお話を聞くと、たとえ自分で決めたとしても、そういった不便な生活を独りで続けるのは簡単なことではなく、「理想と現実」の葛藤があることを正直な言葉で語ってくれた。私はその姿勢と言葉にとても共感した。
私は、彼女が日々頑張って拾ってはすぐに生活に燃えて消えていく「薪」を、古い写真技法である「サイアノタイプ」（日光で焼き付ける写真）によって、一緒に残すことにした。
そして、初めて小松恵美さんに会いに行った時、それまでは誰も住んでいなくて廃墟のようだった空き家の庭先に洗濯物が揺れていたことがとても印象的だったので、それらの写真を洗濯物のように吊るした。
（この作品を制作して１年後の２０２１年、彼女は味土野を離れる決断をした)
Exhibited at Garasha guest house in Midono
“Landscape Rippers 2” from Dai-Kyoto in Kyotango -
Through an artist-in-residence program in Kyoto, I visited a remote village called "Midono" in the mountains of Kyotango City, where only two villagers lived, over a span of four years, from 2019 to 2021.
When I first visited Midono, there were only two relocated residents living there, but in 2020, a new midwife named Megumi Komatsu moved in.
When I spoke with her, I learned that she was living in an old house, collecting firewood along the mountain path, making fires, and cooking meals. All in pursuit of her "ideal way of life."
But as we talked more, she honestly shared that even if it was her own choice, it was not easy to live such an inconvenient lifestyle alone, and she often struggled between “ideal and reality.” I deeply resonated with her attitude and words.
I decided to preserve the “firewood” she picked up, wood that would usually disappear into daily life in flames, by photographing it using cyanotype, an old photographic technique also known as sun printing.
Then I hung those photos like laundry.
This was inspired by the impression I had when I first visited Megumi Komatsu, on the porch of what had been a long-abandoned house, now her home, laundry was swaying in the breeze.
(One year after this work was made, in 2021, she decided to leave Midono.)
