The shocking experiences I had during my 2022 visit to Kenya still remain vivid in my mind to this day.

Among the many memories I have of that time, the mountains of garbage I saw are particularly hard to forget. The spontaneous flames, the reeking odors, the garish colors of the plastic trash—it seemed like the end of the world, and it left my head spinning.

The other day, I saw a piece by Hokusai commonly known as “Aka-Fuji” at an art gallery. This scene of Fuji in red called to mind thoughts of the magma sleeping within the mountain, and somehow made me aware not only of its beauty, but also of the spooky nature of the landscape as well.

This is it, I thought. Using a photo I had taken while in Kenya, I graded it all in red and printed it out on a piece of fabric. Suddenly, the awful scenery became abstract, and the mounds of man-made garbage somehow turned into something almost like a landscape.

At that moment, I realized that it was possible to reconsider the essential meaning of a thing, thereby endowing it with a new meaning and an entirely different value.

Red usually represents warning or crises. However, rather than viewing it as an alert to the environmental issues facing us today, I’ve chosen to put my belief in the color red, and use it to express my conviction that there is a way for us to change the future.

2022年に訪れたケニアでの衝撃は、今も私の中で続いている。

ナイロビのゴミの山が脳裏から離れない。自然発火する炎に腐敗臭、プラスチックのカラフルな色彩が入り 混じり、まるでこの世の終わりを具現化したような景色にめまいがした。

北斎による富嶽三十六景凱風快晴、通称「赤富士」は、富士山を見慣れた青や白ではなく、太陽の光で赤く 染めることにより、その優美な姿を印象強くさせるだけでなく、内に秘める火山を彷彿をさせ、不気味さと 共に被写体のもう一つの側面を浮かび上がらせる。私は、ケニアで撮影したゴミ山の画像を赤色に変換して みた。見るに耐えぬ光景は抽象的になり、まるで花のようでもあるし、上空から見下ろす地形図のようにも 見える。人工的であるはずのゴミたちはまるで自然の風景の一部を切り取ったかのように見えた。ゴミとは 一体何だろうか。その固定概念が崩れていくようであった。

赤色は警鐘や危機を表す色。しかし私は環境問題へのアラートというよりも、未来を変えていく方法はきっとある、その前向きな感情の高まりを赤い色に込めたいと思う。