“Tighten a wide band with beautiful metallic trim on a dark blue dress”
“A visit with a batch of beautiful light pink roses in a white box”

When I was researching the architect Shirai Sei-ichi (1905-1983), I read a description of Mr. S (who would have been the model of the young Shirai) in the book “Paris Diary” by the writer Fumiko Hayashi, and that’s when I decided to photograph Shirai’s architecture. I thought he was a graceful, romantic and seductive man with an irresistible charm. I wanted to know more about him, so I read many essays, conversations and episodes about him.

Shirai’s architecture includes a kind of serene attraction that feels like it is floating. Rather than photographing the architecture, I wanted to see its figures superimposed on the space. I once went to Akita, where the first snow had just fallen, to see a work called “Ukigumo,” the same name as Fumiko’s novel.

Fumiko would be visiting surely if she was still alive.