Identifying with other places: Homes that a photographer found in his journey

Abstract

This paper analyses the photographic works of Tanuma Takeyoshi who travels around the world. Although he is most famous for what he has made his life's work, 'Children of the World', he has also produced works focused on Tokyo where he was born, grew up, and currently lives. Through the course of his world travels, he has identified particularly deeply with two regions, the Andes in South America and the Catalonia region of Spain, and has published books of photographs that were specifically devoted to each region. This paper investigates the process of his identification with these regions through the analysis of his photographs. By producing these photographs, Tanuma has acquired a sense of belonging to other places. Andes Sanka (Homage to the Andes) was published in 1984. This photo collection consists of all color photos which were taken on a journey in the 1970s. They include photographs of magnificent natural landscapes, the daily life of the Indios who live there, scenes of their festivals, the remains of the Inca Empire, and the geoglyphs of Nazca. The photographs of natural landscapes give viewers a sublime sense of vastness and spirituality. Romànic Català (Catalan Romanesque) was published in 1987. The monochrome photographs of Romanesque-style medieval buildings were taken in the mid 1980s. The buildings have been weathered through a history of more than a thousand years, and they have become artworks appropriate to their surrounding as they balance the upward striving of human creative intention with the downward force of natural gravity. By grasping the fascination with other places through taking photographs from a traveler's viewpoint and finding spirituality and universal commonality in other places, Tanuma pays homage to these places and a sense of belonging. While all human beings have homes where they were born and grew up, they create a layered identity by 'belonging' to other places, selected according to individual taste, which also function as a home.