Uetsugu Kotomi: On Air
Born in 2000, Wakayama, Japan.
Currently lives and works in Osaka, Japan.
08.04.2023
“I create my works considering the relationship between seeing, photography, and memory. Memories are made from images created by the act of seeing, but they are discarded and selected in the course of time after they are seen. I am interested in the fragile aspects of human memory, such as misremembering, false recall, fragmentary memory, and deja vu. The starting point of this work was the question: What kind of change occurs when we photograph what we usually see? I believe that taking a photograph means to supplement reality by bringing to the surface images that are already latent. I started taking photographs that link to the viewer’s small memories, or supplement memories, or conversely, mislead memories, or in any case, call on memories. There is a phenomenon in which we think we have seen something even though we have never seen it before. It may be that you have never actually really seen it, but it is not easy to determine if that is true or not. I may have seen it, but I don’t remember it. I see it but do not recognize it. I see it, but I don’t see it.” – Uetsugu Kotomi.
Uetsugo Kotomi is an Osaka-based photographer interested showing ordinary things in a new light by making unordinary compositions and taking attention to color, structure, detail. Kotomi currently studies at the Photography Department of Osaka University of Arts, and her work has been exhibited at NEW JAPAN PHOTO10, Einstein Studio and China Jinan International Photography Biennale among others. She has won prizes such as the Encouragement Award at Incheon Marine Media Festival in South Korea and Japan Photo Award at Intuition Kyotography KG+.