In Michael Haneke’s 2000 film Code Unknown, there is a scene in which the protagonist’s lover, a photographer, secretly snaps pictures of passengers sitting across from him on the train.
Inspired by the film, Satoshi Fujiwara used the same approach to shoot people on Berlin trains. In contemporary society, it is not acceptable to publicly display pictures of people’s faces that were taken without their permission. Thus, Fujiwara shot and edited his pictures in a way that makes it impossible to identify the individual people who served as “models, using the shadows created by the direct sunlight pouring in through the windows, various compositional approaches, and digital processing to keep their identities anonymous.
Satoshi Fujiwara is ultimately a street photographer; he carries a camera with him in his day-to-day life and shoots people and events that catch his eye. The pictures were taken over a period of several months and show people from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, German, English, and other European languages, but also many languages from the Middle East and Asia.
The artist describes being inspired by the unfamiliar, chaotic qualities of European visual culture in relation to the homogeneity of his native Japan. He has brought aspects of this fascination with the West back to Japan.
Award, Shortlists
2018 Foam Paul Huf Award, shortlist
2017 Prix Pictet Japan Award, shortlist
2015 Outset | UNSEEN EXHIBITION FUND, shortlist
2014 Japan Photo Award
Published in 2015 by Amana/IMA Photobooks
Deconstruction of the physical and narrative features of the book:
Format, size and orientation: 58 pages (multiple sizes), The cover is 27 x 37 cm
Images and text: Includes an essay by the artist on a loose sheet, explaining the inspirations behind the project.
Book in hand: The book is loosebound and comes with an elastic band to hold all the images together. The Soft cover has a glossy finish.
Paper and ink: 56 colour and black and white reproductions on several paper stocks (matte, glossy, white bordered, thin/thick etc.). The use of different paper stocks and/or of different page sizes can be a very simple way to organize information in a tactile and/or visual sense. An attentive reader will realise that there is a difference in meaning behind two images if they consist of different materials.
Structure and architecture: The unconventional construction of the photobook created by a folded layering effect presents a twisting collage of mixed body parts. His portraits are oriented in all directions. Some spreads feature a cropped face on one side and on the other, an extreme close-up detail from that same face, but rotated ninety degrees.
Rhythm and sequencing: The narrative is provided by the book’s dynamic design which highlights a distinct sense of immersive motion. Faces swirl and overlap, building on one another (sometimes on the same page), becoming an interwoven mixture of disconnected features, just like the swim of passing faces on a crowded train. This is a case where the packed density of the photobook form is likely the fullest manifestation of Fujiwara’s vision. While certain individual faces stand out and will make striking large scale prints, it is the pleasingly jumbled public/private experience found in the book that thrums with visual and conceptual richness.
Title: The title “Code Unknown” is taken from Michael Haneke’s film of the same name. It also links to the unfamiliar qualities of European culture, being that Satoshi is native to Japan. Code Unknown signifies an outsider looking in, noticing detail that make us all the same and removing all social convention.