Selections from "運命共同体 COMMUNITIES BOUND TOGETHER BY A COMMON DESTINY" by CHika & Ichio usui
Chika & Ichio Usui Biographies
Chika was born in 1988, in Fukuoka Prefecture. Ichio was born in 1983, in Yamagata Prefecture. Both graduated from the Department of Photographic Fine Arts at the Japan Institute of Photography and Film. In 2016, the couple started collaborative production as Chika & Ichio Usui.
Following a six year career in the field of prosthetics and orthotics, Chika became inspired to become a photographer and entered a photography college.
Chika is the only “Scarecrow Photographer - Creator” in the world, and is also active as a goodwill ambassador for Okuharima Scarecrow Village in Japan, famous for its scarecrow populations.
In 2019, Chika was invited to exhibit her works at WonderFotoDay in Taiwan, as part of the Taipei International Photography Arts Exchange Festival.
In 2020, Chika was selected for the second time in a row to participate in the KG+ “Select 10 Artists” exhibition, part of the annual KYOTOGRAPHIE international photography festival in Kyoto, Japan.
Visit Chika's website for more information on her art:
Ichio worked as a sales and systems engineer at a system integrator, then transferred to a web company and started photography at the same time. While continuing his work, he attended photography school to learn more about photography. Upon graduating, he changed his career to become a serious photographer.
In 2015, Ichio held a solo exhibition entitled "Kiseki - The Miracles," at the Wide Gallery & Studio in Kobe, Japan. He has received many other awards, both in Japan and overseas.
Visit Ichio's website for more information on his art:
As the collaborative duo, “Chika & Ichio Usui,” they were included in the KG+ “Select 12 Artists” category, and held a solo exhibition in Kyoto during the 2019 KYOTOGRAPHIE international photography festival.
Afterwards, they were selected to receive the Paris Gallery First Floor Award, from more than 200 participating artists included in the KG + “Select 12 Artists” category, as well as the entire KG + exhibition. In November 2019, they held a solo exhibition in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district in Paris, France.
Visit Chika & Ichio's website at https://chika-and-ichiousui.net
千夏、1988年福岡県生まれ。一夫、1983年山形県生まれ。ともに日本写真映像専門学校フォトファイン学科卒業. 2016年よりChika & Ichio Usuiとして夫婦で作品の共同制作を開始。
千夏は義肢装具士として約6年間の社会経験を経てきたが、一念発起して写真専門学校へ入学し、写真家へと転身。世界でただ一人のかかしぐらふぁー・かかしくりえいたーとしてセルフポートレート作品の制作を行っている。また奥播磨かかしの里親善大使としても活動をしている。
2019年、台湾で開催されたWonderFotoDay(台北国際撮影芸術交流祭)に招待作家として作品を展示。
2020年、KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+SELECT 2020 10Artistsに前年のChika & Ichio Usuiに続いて2年連続で選出される。
一夫はシステムインテグレーターにて営業・システムエンジニアとして従事した後、Web系企業へと移籍をし、同時に写真活動を開始する。仕事との両立をしながら写真専門学校に通い写真について学び、卒業を機に活動フィールドを本格的に写真へと移行する。
2015年、個展「きせき、」(Wide Gallery&Studio、神戸)開催。その他、国内外での受賞歴多数。
Chika & Ichio Usui としては2019年にKYOTOGRAPHIE KG+SELECT 12Artistsに選出をされ京都にて個展を開催。
その後、KG+SELECT 12 Artists及びKG+の全200組を超える出展アーティストの中から選ばれParis Gallery First Floor Awardを受賞する。2019年11月にはフランス・パリのサン・ジェルマン・デ・プレ地区で個展を開催した。
Chika & Ichio Usui, Artists
Artist Statements
The series of photographs in our book "運命共同体 Communities bound together by a common destiny" depicts a brand-new fellowship born into this world.
Throughout this project, we focus on one question:
“What does it mean to get married and become a new family?”
Growing up in totally different environments, we first met each other through photography and then married, creating a new family. We started this project in order to take our “unique family photos.”
The scene of this photoshoot is our ancestral land which will become our home; we’re going to build our house there in the near future.
As we continued photoshooting, we started to ask the meaning of our bond to each other. We also had internal arguments about the following questions:
“Why did I meet her and become her husband?”
“Why did I meet him and become his wife?”
“What will our relationship be like from now on?”
“What is a ‘married couple’? What does it mean to become a new family?”
We don’t know the answers yet at this point.
Emerging from the ground, a brand-new fellowship is born into this world, and it eventually comes to an end, going back into the ground. While one life begins, another life ends. In such a circle of life, we will continue to face the fellowship we call “family” through this project.
この作品は、この世界に新たに誕生した共同体を表現したものです。
"夫婦とは、家族になるとは何なのか"ということをテーマとしています。
全く異なる環境で育った私たちは写真を通して出会い家族となり、"ユニークな家族写真を撮る"ということをきっかけにこのプロジェクトをスタートさせました。
撮影の舞台となる土地は、先祖代々受け継がれそしてこれから家を建て私たちの巣になるであろう場所です。
撮影を進めるにつれて私たちは自問自答をし、互いにその絆の意味を問うようになります。
なぜこの人と出会い一緒になったのか。
これからどのような関係へとなっていくのか。
夫婦とは、家族になるとは何なのか。
今はまだその答えはわかりません。
新たな共同体が地面を割りこの世界に生まれ出て、いずれ終りを迎えて土へ還る。
始まりは終わりであり、終わりはまた始まりでもある。
めぐりゆく命の循環のなかで、私たちはこれからもプロジェクトを通して家族という名の共同体に向き合い続けてゆきます。
Ichio Usui
Artist
Hyogo, Japan
2020
Afterward
One day, my husband suddenly told me to bury myself in the ground; it was a very cold, snowy day. I remember that my body had been shivering from the cold all day long.
Ignoring me freezing, he just directed a serious look at me through a camera lens. I couldn’t hear that much sound under the ground, but his voice giving me directions was so pure and soft. Strange to say, I was able to feel his love through this weird space between us.
Just like vinegar and oil are combined and emulsified by eggs, my husband and I combined together and united into one through photography. I felt that we were like mayonnaise.
In our everyday life with a mixture of hopes and fears, we gradually unite into one fellowship while colliding with each other. There are no logical answers here; I feel that each fellowship has a different form, which constantly changes over time.
Inspired by our shocking event called "marriage," we started this project to take our unique family photos. Looking back to our path to here, I feel that we created a piece depicting more than our fellowship: the style of a husband digging a hole in a place inherited and protected by ancestors and having his wife bury herself in it, a unique Japanese spirit of sticking to one specific land, the gender inequality we still have unconsciously in Japan, and so on.
This piece is full of our anxiety, doubt, hope and preparedness as Japanese.
For this series of photographs, we’re going to have three parts in total.
Following our life changes, this series will depict “the birth” in the first part, “the growth” in the second part, and “the end,” when either of us passes away, in the final part. We think this piece will be completed when the circle of our lives completes one rotation.
Please look forward to what will happen to us as time goes by from now on.
あとがき
ある日突然、私は雪の降る寒空の下で土に埋まることになりました。
寒くてひたすら体が震えたことを思い出します。
凍える私を無視してレンズ越しに真剣な眼差しを向ける彼。
よく音が聞こえない土の中、私に指示を出すその声は純粋で柔らかいものでした。
不思議なことに私たち二人の間にできた特異な空間を通して、彼からの愛情を感じることができました。
酢と油が卵によってつながれ乳化するように、私と彼は写真によってつながれひとつになる。例えるなら、私たちはまるでマヨネーズのようだと思いました。
期待と不安が交差する日々の中で、激しくぶつかり合いながらも少しずつ共同体へとなっていく。そこには理論的な正解はなく、生々流転しそれぞれに形があるのではないかと感じています。
私たちにとって"結婚"という衝撃的な出来事からインスピレーションをえて、ユニークな家族写真を撮るということから出発したこのプロジェクト。振り返ってみれば、先祖代々受け継がれ守られてきた場所に夫が穴を掘り妻が埋まるというスタイルや日本特有ともいえる土地に執着する精神、まだ無意識的に日本に根深く存在する男女格差の問題を含み表現している作品になったのではないかと感じています。
日本人としての私たちの不安や疑問、希望や覚悟の詰まった作品です。
私たちはこのシリーズを全三部作で構成していこうと考えています。
変わりゆく私たちの変化に沿う形で、第一部では"誕生"、第二部では"育み"を、最終章となる第三部では私たち夫婦のいずれかの死をもって"終焉"を描いていくことで、初めて誕生と死が繋がり廻り、命のめぐりを通して作品が出来上がっていくと考えています。
時間の経過とともに変わりゆく私たち共同体の今後の展開にどうぞご期待下さい。
Chika Usui
Artist
Hyogo, Japan
2020
運命共同体 Communities bound together by a common destiny, by Chika & Ichio Usui. Published in 2020.
Chika & Ichio Usui Awards and Honors
Chika Usui
Awards
2020 KYOTOGRAPHIE KG＋SELECT 2020 10 Artists
2018 Wonder Foto Day Award
2017 Meiji Yasuda Life: My Happiness Contest - Selected
2017 Fujifilm “PHOTO IS – 50,000-Person Photo Exhibition 2017” - Chosen as one of “100 selections that resonated with the heart” (Selected by Ken Noguchi)
2016 APA Awards
Group Exhibitions
2019 Wonder Foto Day (Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taiwan)
2019 Onaeba (CASO, Osaka)
Solo Exhibitions
2020 "The Beautiful Kakashi World" (KYOTOGRAPHIE KG＋SELECT, Kyoto)
2019 "Hello! The Beautiful Kakashi World!" (Okuharima Kakashi Village, Himeji)
Ichio Usui
Selected Awards
2018 International Photography Award: 3rd Place (Professional)
2018 Fine Art Photography Awards: 2nd Place
2017 Tokyo International Foto Awards: Gold (Professional) and Silver (Professional)
2017 International Photography Award: 1st Place and 2nd Place
2017 Prix de la Photographie, Paris: Silver and Bronze
2017 Moscow International Foto Awards: 3rd Place
2016 ONAEBA vol.19: Reviewer Award (Selected by Haruhisa Yamaguchi)
2016 Tokyo International Foto Awards: Gold
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Wonder Foto Day (Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taiwan)
2018 Ashiya Photographic Exhibition (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe)
2018 TIFA Winners Exhibition (ICA Space, Tokyo)
2018 Px3 Winners Exhibition (Espace Beaurepaire, Paris)
2018 MIFA Exhibition Minsk (Artel Gallery Minsk, Belarus)
2017 Yume no saki Project (72Gallery, Tokyo)
2017 Japan Institute of Photography and Film Selection Exhibition (Fujifilm photo salon, Osaka)
2017 Japan Institute of Photography and Film Selection Exhibition (Nikon salon, Osaka)
Solo Exhibition
2015 “The Miracles…” (Biennale Kobe 2015 Wide Gallery＆Studio, Kobe)
Publications
IPA Book 2018
El Pais Semanal
IPA Book 2017
PX3 Book 2017
PhatPhoto Vol.97
Chika & Ichio Usui
Awards
2019 KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+SELECT 2019 12 Artists, and 2019 Paris Gallery First Floor Award
Group Exhibition & Art Fair
2019 KG+ IN TOKYO (Art-U room, Tokyo)
2019 “Communities bound together by a common destiny” (fotofever, Paris)
Solo Exhibitions
2019 “Communities bound together by a common destiny” (BERGONZO FIRST FLOOR, Paris)
2019 “運命共同体 - Communities bound together by a common destiny -” (KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+SELECT, Kyoto)
Chika & Ichio Usui Exhibition at KG+ 2019, Kyoto, Japan