Hara has just published Small Myths with Chose Commune, a very beautiful and modest collection of photographs dated between 1996, the year Hara staged her first solo show, and 2021. People pass by, within the blink of an eye. Fish orbit a tank. Uncanny window reflections. A random ray of light. They are nothing-special shots, devoid of any self-conscious artistry or high drama, but captivating in the best and original sense of the word. They grab us for their distinctive and particular visions and persuade us that what Hara’s camera saw was both worthwhile and true.
“My work is probably like a murmuring in someone’s ear,” says Hara. While her signature indeed resides in her aptitude to image indescribable ambiences, the book itself has its own aesthetics of noticing, with very deliberate attention to form, colour and mood. The sequencing feels intuitive yet somehow learned, which is partly the achievement of publisher Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi. “I take photographs as if I were doing automatic writing,” explains Hara. “Yet, when it comes to making selections, I cannot help but make my own assumptions. Therefore, by working through the senses and sensitivities of others, namely Ms Poimboeuf-Koizumi, I was presented with something new through decisions and sequences that I would have never made myself.”
“I welcome the diverse interpretations that arise from the viewer’s individual sensibilities,” continues Hara, who resists disclosing any overt statement about her work. “Like the phrase ‘reading between the lines,’ I hope that viewers can sense something between the photographs. After all, photographs are just fragments cut up from reality, but I hope they are connected to what is outside of the image, too. I realise that to face the world so carelessly and blindly with my camera is to also face myself.” If anything, Hara shows us that the world is experienced introspectively, and this is the most human part of it all.
Small Myths by Mikiko Hara is published by Chose Commune.