August 21st, 2022

Morocco changed my life. In many ways, it had changed my life as I really did enjoy working with this team. ( Thank you Joeseph Ball for this photograph and his attentive works!) What changed me the most is meeting Yuki Onodera and Aki lumi. Yuki has been the artist I admired since the 90's. When I came across her work in the exhibition space, I was taken by the quality of her work and had been so full by just looking at her works. Sometimes I was saying to myself " Yes" which is a strange thing to say when looking at another person's work. What I admire about the most in Yuki is, she is not afraid of challenging her ideas. She plays a lot with concepts and techniques and come to the final work. She isn't afraid to fail, she can recognize each work as it is and give a value to every challenge, ideas and speak about them with the same passion. When I thought of one photographer (artist) that can enrich this project that questions the potentiality of photography, there was only Yuki. Surely there are many great Japanese photographers who make great works. Yet no one will ever match up to Yuki's creative, playful and ever challenging world.  I knocked on her door, afraid of being disappointed. (Ken Kitano assured me by saying that Yuki is a kind person.) When Yuki opened the door, I understood what it means to be a great artist through meeting them. I knew couple of works of Aki yet the experience of meeting him was mind blowing. I have never met an artist with such a refined spirit. They were generous, helpful and smart. Yes, they were beyond my expectation. They had given me many valuable advice, with honesty and respect. They are the least arrogant people I know. Aki and Yuki loves food and eating. They are not stiff kind of people, even they could have been as they are known artists and Yuki is considered the major photographer, recognized with many prestigious prizes. Aki loves Yuki with so much care and he is also incredible on how much he supports her work. Yuki and Aki would not be who they are today without each other. They are fun, lively, and talk and laugh a lot.  This project of Morocco  was not possible, if I did not meet Yuki and Aki who supported me tirelessly.