Our Thursday series, featuring must-read books from each branch of the art bookshop NADiff, features Takahiro Kanayama's "While Leaves Are Falling...." This week, we're introducing Takahiro Kanayama's "While Leaves Are Falling...." This book is featured by NADiff BAITEN, the museum shop located within the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in Ebisu, Tokyo (2nd floor, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Ebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo). "While Leaves Are Falling..." by Takahiro Kanayama

"That day came suddenly. From that day on, the mother I knew until then was forever locked in my memory." (Takahiro Kanayama) This book is a collection of photographs taken by New York-based photographer Takahiro Kanayama of his mother and two aunts. Kanayama's mother developed schizophrenia when he was just 20 years old. The death of his grandmother prompted him to begin photographing his family.

While photographing family is a universal theme, Kanayama's photographs convey a unique relationship with his subjects through his gaze, composition, and sense of distance.

The way the photos are arranged on double-page spreads, and the inclusion of photos from Kanayama's childhood and his mother and aunt's youth from old family albums in the latter half of the book, strongly remind us of the world that has changed before and after "that day," and the presence of his mother, who remains unchanged.

Kanayama's family may seem to be in a unique situation, but this book depicts a sense of "family" that anyone can relate to.

[Book Information]
"While Leaves Are Falling..."
Author: Kanayama Takahiro
Publisher: Akaaka Art Publishing
130 pages / 310 x 220 mm
Published: December 30, 2016