By Tsutomu Yamagata
Published by Zen Photo Gallery, 2012 – Gift from the publisher –
Location: Studio Sakse – Chiang Mai, Thailand
A photobook which captures the various faces and individuals within a community, Tsutomu Yamagata’s Thirteen Orphans brings together a series of portraits of individuals whom he met around a lily pond known as Shinobazu-no-ike located in Tokyo’s Ueno district. Here, much like the title which serves as a reference to a hand played in mahjong, the individuals photographed serve as a document of the very ties of which binds us as humans.
“There is something about the people I met at the park that peculiarly attracts me, something more than just how they look, just what they say about themselves. It is as if they had a kind of magnetic power, unseen and quiet, further attracting those who take a close look at them.”
– Tsutomu Yamagata
