While Saint Laurent doesn’t use many words to represent itself, the brand’s connection to art runs deep. It has collaborated with numerous photographers, film directors, and artists. SELF 07 is a tangible manifestation of the brand’s various connections and interpretive expression of its roots. The details of each exhibition space were highlighted, and they all had a tree planted in the center. In each of the six cities, photos surrounded the respective trees as though they were there from the start. The present state of Saint Laurent, which encapsulates complex elements such as countries, cities, cultures, individuals in said cities, and fashion, was brought to the forefront through the eyes of six photographers living in the city. 

SELF is an art series curated by Anthony Vaccarello. It launched in 2018 with Daido Moriyama showcasing his photos at Paris Photo, and the seventh one was held this year in collaboration with Magnum Photos, a photographic cooperative. Takashi Homma partook in the project in Tokyo as a guest photographer. 

The exhibition in Tokyo was in the middle of the grassy rooftop of Miyashita Park in Shibuya. Once you entered the circular pop-up space, on the left, you could see images of buildings projected onto the wall facing Shibuya station via a camera obscura. Since the beginning of his career, Takashi Homma has been implementing the camera obscura technique. For SELF 07, he used a hotel room in the city as though it were a camera to capture the scenery outside the window. For a brief second, I felt like the images taking up the room with zero light, aside from one tiny hole the size of a button, seemed to align with the rest of SELF 07’s presentation. But the space didn’t have a roof, so the big sky hovered above the camera obscura wall. It was sadly raining on the first day, but the bright sun illuminated the space on the last day, offering a view I had never seen before. On the opposite wall were ten photos of the cityscape and a man and woman modeling Saint Laurent’s clothes, randomly exhibited without picture frames. 

“I take photos of things I can only take in the present and will last for generations” 

–The city and fashion coexisted in your exhibited photos; I could immediately tell they were yours. 

Takashi Homma (Homma): When I was approached to participate in this project, the first question I asked was if I could take the photos in my usual style. They said, “Of course. That’s why we chose you.” It’s not my style to take rock-ish photos with a white background. In that respect, Daido Moriyama-san’s photos matched Saint Laurent’s ethos. 

–You’ve taken many photos focusing on Tokyo as a city.

Homma: I have. Whenever people abroad ask me to take photos, I get asked to capture a “story about Tokyo.” I shoot the city and models wearing clothes and do the layout by myself. My style never changes regardless of the media platform or brand.

–It was refreshing to see you adding monochromatic photos to your exhibition.

Homma: That was a new thing I tried. 

–I feel that symbolic elements stood out in your photos more than usual, such as roads, crossings, guardrails, and signs. 

Homma: I said something like, “Our actions are limited and shaped by the pressure of the city of Tokyo” in the press release. 

–Signs used to direct people caught my eye in Harry Gruyaert’s photos, which he took at an airport in Paris. What do you think about the other participating photographers’ city photos?

Homma: I was impressed by the photos taken in Paris because they were fully realized. It was interesting how the photos were shown in six different places simultaneously. The exhibitions were only for four days, so I wanted to go to each one and see the other photographers’ works. Only if that were possible. It’d be fun if you could see all the photos together virtually. 

–Because Magnum captures decisive moments in time while you welcome unpredictable factors that enter the frame, I initially felt that your approach was at odds with theirs. It was an unexpected match. 

Homma: I wonder. It’s not like our directions are entirely different. Fashion photography is documentary photography. I take photos of clothes and models in the moment; I take photos of things I can only take in the present and will last for generations.

Takashi Homma
Takashi Homma lived in London from 1991 to 1992 and worked for the culture magazine i-D. He received the 24th Kimura Ihei Commemorative Photography Award in 1999 for Tokyo Suburbia (Korinsha Press). From 2011 to 2012, Homma held a solo exhibition, New Documentary, in three museums in the country. His books include Tanoshii Shashin, and his recent collections of works include The Narcissistic City and Trails, both published by Mack. In 2019, Homma published Symphony: Mushrooms from the Forest and Looking Through – Le Corbusier Windows. He currently works as a visiting professor in the graduate school of Tokyo Zokei University.

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——How did you become the director of “Architecture, Time, and Kazuyo Sejima”?

Takashi Homma: I was asked by Osaka University of the Arts. At first, I hadn’t decided to make a movie, so I asked them to make a recording once every six months. Osaka University of the Arts has a department of architecture, so I thought of making it for educational purposes. Then, after shooting about half of it, there was talk of making it into a movie, which led to this screening. 

You may think of a documentary as being in close contact for a long time while filming, but that’s not the case as I’ve filmed six times over three and a half years. Each time was about 10 minutes, so the total screen time is 60 minutes. 

——The title is simply “Architecture, Time and Kazuyo Sejima.” Was this decided right away?

Homma: I wanted a simple title that gave the same weight to architecture, time and Ms. Sejima. Normally, I would have focused more on the human aspect of Ms. Sejima in the movie. But after watching it, I had focused on architecture and time so much that she, “You’re not really interested in me.” 

——Even so, there is no narration and by following the story of Ms. Sejima, you can feel her charming personality. 

Homma: I didn’t make the documentary to convey any message. I interviewed Ms. Sejima once every six months and was interested in what she was thinking at the time and how her thinking was changing. Therefore, I didn’t want to tell you about her charm, but for the viewer to get a sense for it directly.

——You’ve also taken architectural photographs of much of her work, but what do you think is the appeal of the architecture that she hasworked on?

Homma: I met her in the late 1990s, but at that time, compared to previous generations of architects, her work was said to be “transparent” and “light” architecture. When I made my debut in the mid-1990s, I was criticized for being a “bright” photograph. So, I felt our approaches matched, and we might have similar ideas. That’s why I thought of photographing her architecture. I’m not generally interested in architecture, so I don’t photograph just any building. Because I was doing a documentary about Ms. Sejima, I was able to do the filming, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it was about Tadao Ando. 

——The frame angle varies between portrait to landscape to square. This was a fresh take. What was the intention behind this?

Homma: I didn’t originally intend to make it into a movie, so I chose the angle from a photographer’s perspective, such as whether a portrait frame would be better for a person, or if a landscape frame was more appropriate for a wider shot. I do not think it’s necessary to film in landscape frame just because it’s a movie.  

——I was impressed with the music because there was no narration. Why did you ask Shun Ishiwaka, an up-coming young drummer, to be the music director?

Homma: He’s basically a drummer, but I saw him playing the piano in a solo concert. It was improvisational, but I felt it was very organic rather than judging his ability. I thought his organic playstyle would go well with Ms. Sejima’s architecture, so I hired him. He improvised drums and pianos over the film and asked him to do about 10 different tracks, from which I chose the best.

——You’ve made several documentary films, but what motivates you, a photographer, to make a documentary?

Homma: There are many documentaries that are made for a conclusion, but I’m not really interested in the results. I’m more interested in reflecting on the process from a mostly neutral position. I don’t think it’s my job to make a dramatic documentary and I see it as an extension of photography. 

So, similarly with the process of building, I was interested in what Ms. Sejima was thinking each time. For example, in the movie, Ms. Sejima is at the construction site, and there is a scene where I use a telephoto lens to shoot from a distance, but I usually shoot close up to capture facial expressions and body language clearly. I was interested in capturing what got her to speak when she was walking around the site. I didn’t ask what she said once construction was complete, and I’m not interested. I want the viewer to feel the architecture and Ms. Sejima. 

Kazuyo Sejima
Architect. Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1956. Completed the Graduate School of Home Economics, Japan Women’s University in 1981. Established Kazuyo Sejima Architects in 1987. Established SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa in 1995. In 2010, she served as general director of the 12th Venezia-Biennale International Architecture Exhibition. She was awarded the Japan Society of Architecture Award*, the Golden Lion Award at the Venezia-Biennale International Architecture Exhibition*, the Pritzker Prize*, and has been awarded the Order of Arts and Letters and the Purple Ribbon Medal. She is currently a professor at Milan University of Technology, a professor at Yokohama National University’s School of Architecture and Urban Studies (Y-GSA), a visiting professor at Japan Women’s University, and a visiting professor at Osaka University of the Arts. (*As a representative of SANAA.)

Takashi Homma
Photographer. Born in Tokyo in 1962. In 1999, he won the 24th Kimura Ihei Award for his album “TOKYOSBURBIA” (MOOM, Ltd.). From 2011 to 2012, his solo exhibition “New documentary” was held at three museums in Japan. His books include “Fun Photography: Photography Class for Good Children,” and more recently “THE NARCISSISTIC CITY” (MACK) and “TRAILS” (MACK). In 2019, he published “Symphony: The Child mushrooms from the forest” (Case Publishing) and “Looking Through Le Corbusier Windows” (Walther König, CCA, Window Research Institute). He is currently a visiting professor at Tokyo Zokei University. 

Architecture, Time, and Kazuyo Sejima
Director/Photography: Takashi Homma
Cast: Kazuyo Sejima
Producer: Osaka University of the Arts
Copyright 2020 Osaka University of Arts. All Rights Reserved.
2020 / Japan / Color / 16:9/60 min / English subtitles
Distribution: Eurospace
Official website: kazuyosejima-movie.com

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