Taniguchi – On Representational Emptiness

Akiyoshi Taniguchi is farsighted, so he decided to remove his glasses and immerse himself in a blurry world to take pictures. Using manual focus, it was impossible for him to tell if the shot was in focus. Reflected on his retina was scenery that only he could see, so he tried pressing the shutter while relying on his own five senses. Looking at the finished prints later on, he felt there was “something reminiscent” of that reflection on the retina. But while that is the fact captured by the photograph, the question of what was taken is a futile one. Such floating substances are understood in Buddhist philosophy as Impermanence. In other words, permanent substances do not exist at all.

22 x 30 cm