about FAUSTUS


 *- added photos from Europe for store location page.
*- added photos to the previous blog [book signing & talk event].
  　                                                                                    日本語も下に続きます–
[FAUSTUS]
published by Sokyu-sha
author: Misako Oba

This book is a visual statement of a true physical, emotional, and
spiritual journey that anyone might be called upon to make.

The website is about the artwork of Misako Oba’s FAUSTUS series and its book.
It will be updated little by little especially in the [Story] section.

(*faustus means “auspicious” or “blessed” in Latin).
————

It is a true story. The story begins with:

It was on Valentine’s Day when I first heard from a doctor,
“ Your pinkie has to be amputated.”

Introduction:

The Patum101_Isorated_MisakoO_sqpinkie finger on my right hand began to bleed spontaneously one day in 2006. Several times a month that year, my pinkie would suddenly begin bleeding heavily without any provocation. Getting a correct diagnosis proved difficult. I had an extremely rare medical condition called A.V.M.(Arterio-Venous Malformation) in my right hand. I researched and consulted with doctors to find the best treatment option. There was a battle between an angel and a devil in my heart at this time. Johann Goethe’s Faust somehow became a metaphor for my experience. In folklore, an individual may write a pact (pactum in Latin) with the devil, usually signed with their own blood. The pact involves loss of a part of the individual, often the soul. But in my case, it involved the possibility of a physical loss, the loss of my finger.

This book was edited NOT in a documentary photography way, but in a visual art form. It is a statement of a true physical, emotional, and spiritual journey.
Enjoy YOUR FAUSTUS and life’s journey!    
————

Title: FAUSTUS
Author: Misako Oba     
Publisher: Sokyu-Sha (3F, 1-3-5 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022, Japan)
Hardcover,    Color 88 pages, 69 photographs
Text: English/ Japanese,   Size: 23x28cm (9x11inch),   Printed in Japan
Price: 3888 yen (in Japan),    Limited edition of 500.  
Editor: Michitaka Ota,   Designer: Katsuya Kato,   Creative direction by Misako Oba
ISBN 978-4-904120-44-6

*Many thanks for the efforts of the following individuals who made this publication possible: Mine Suda (em.es.), Pei Koay, Blake Henry, Stephanie Nikolopoulos, Eric Weinstein, Rebecca Drew, and Jeremy Block.

■ Find the Book!（入手方法：書店などはこちら＋）

Patum101_Isorated_MisakoO_1800

『FAUSTUS』のウェブサイトです。
米国各地での展覧会に続いて、このたび、蒼穹舎より 、大庭みさこ写真集『FAUSTUS』が出版されました。（本書のテキストは英語・日本語ですが、思考の仕方や文化の相違を考慮して執筆したため、本文の構成や日英で異なり直訳ではありません。あとがきは対訳となっています）

「突然、予期せずふりかかってきた現実に、人生何もかもが中断された気がした。
不条理な出来事に対して心の中で叫び、怒りと悲しみ、困惑、葛藤、絶望、
さらには、受容と希望、歓びなどを伴う心のジャーニーが始まったのだった。
心の底で天使と悪魔とが闘っていた。」

 

・・・さまざまな病院をあたったが、医療先進国ともいえるアメリカの大都市ニューヨークでさえ、正確に診断し、治療を任せられる専門医を見つけることが困難だった。（略）指の切断の必要はないという医師でさえ、具体的な治療方法を提示できない場合が多かった。私にとって右手の指を失うことは、生活が不自由になるかもしれないこと以外に、それまで仕事で使っていたカメラを操作できるのかという恐怖もあった。・・・  —　本書『FAUSTUS』より

 

「大庭みさこは、日本やニューヨークでテレビ局アナウンサーとしてのキャリアを去った後、私生活でのいくつかの苦難に続いて、その後ニューヨークに移る機会を得、写真作家・アーティストとして新たにスタートを切った。初期の作品シリーズ「El Camino」や「Fireflies」は、東京やパリ、ブリュッセル、ニューヨーク等の都市を、神秘的かつ抽象味を帯びた独特な解釈で表現した。それらが写真界で重要な関心を集め始めていた2006年、彼女はまた新たな悲劇̶右手小指に、非常にまれなAVM（動静脈奇形に）に見舞われ、アーティストとしてのキャリアの一時中断に直面したかに見えた。日本に家族を残したまま、米国での度重なる医療処置と最終的な切除手術の決断に迫られる中、大庭の一連の「FAUSTUS」シリーズは、突然襲った自然出血の病状の理解・受容に至った苦悩葛藤を掘り下げたもので、一見私的なものに見えるが、勇気を持って恐怖と〈喪失〉に向き合い、人間として誰にでも起こりうる もっとも基本的な物語を探求した普遍的なドラマである。（略） 私は大庭のアート全てが、ある意味、一握りのアーティストだけが持っている、自分の感情や魂の状態を鋭く洞察する力を反映していると信じている。」>>続きを読む（ゲイリー・エドワーズ『FAUSTUS』あとがきより）　

同書籍は、「PACTUM」（パクトム〜天使との契約〜）、「They Might Amputate My Pinkie」（彼らは私の小指を切断するかも）、「The Gift of Loss」（喪失からの贈り物）の写真作品シリーズと、さらにいくつかのその関連シリーズからなる非常に大きい FAUSTUS プロジェクト（2006年〜2011年、テキスト2014年含）を、コンセプトと共にテキストを交えて、ビジュアルアート本として編集したものです。オリ ジナル写真作品は約76x100cmのプレクシガラスへのマウント等の写真等があり、既に米国の展覧会でも展示。それらを含め、このFAUSTUSシリーズにまつわるストーリーや、背後にあるコンセプト、裏話などを、同ウェブサイトの [STORY]の欄 にアップしています。

————
既に、大庭みさこ写真集『FAUSTUS』をお手に取って読まれた方も、まだご覧になっていない方も、展覧会で実際の作品をご覧になってくださった方も、そうでない方も、背後に潜むストーリーや写真画をお楽しみください。
————
大庭みさこ写真集『FAUSTUS』（読み方：ファウストス）
蒼穹舎刊
著者名：大庭みさこ
本体価格：3,600円 (+税)
テキスト：英語／日本語
サイズ：A4変型   上製本
総頁数：88      作品点数：69点
編集発行人：大田通貴
装幀：加藤勝也
ISBN978-4-904120-44-6
Pactum_MisakoOba01

 

 

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 >> Japanese 日本語

“After Misako Oba left a successful career as a broadcaster for Japanese television in Japan and New York, following some personal hardships in Japan, she moved to New York and began anew as a photographic artist. Oba’s early work, in the series “El Camino” and “Fireflies,” showed idiosyncratic interpretations in a mysterious and partly abstract manner of such cities as Tokyo, Paris, Brussels, and New York. The work was just gaining critical interest when her progress was interrupted by a new personal tragedy in 2006—the discovery that she had the very rare medical condition A.V.M. (Arterio-Venous Malformation) in the pinkie of her right hand. Heavy spontaneous bleeding and several failed medical procedures lead to the dreaded decision to undergo an amputation in the U.S. without the presence of her family, who were in Japan.

Her project FAUSTUS, dealing with this personal struggle to come to an understanding and acceptance of a rare medical condition that struck her unexpectedly, clearly shows her power of turning these horrific events into a stunning art project of universal application. This work is personal but universal, a drama exploring the most basic of human tales—facing fear and “loss” with courage. Had she not been an artist of exceptional ability and courage, this trauma would have remained known only to herself and circle of close friends and family. Instead it stands as a visible monument to a human spiritual journey, an X-ray of a young woman’s soul. I believe that all of her art reflects, to a degree few artists can match, a clear-eyed appraisal of the conditions of her emotions and her soul. Her work is uniquely passionate and engaging.

The self-portraits work might be compared to Francesca Woodman’s and Cindy Sherman’s quest for an alternate identity. In Oba’s case, one sees the perseverance of a loving spirit, and a validation of the eternal beauty of the female persona. [……]”

Quote from Afterword of [FAUSTUS] by Gary Edwards,
Gary Edwards Gallery
Washington, DC

Gallery Director Gary Edwards

 >> Japanese 日本語

“Since photography appeared in the 19th century, photographers began actively attempting to make self-portraits, which before this period, was mainly the purview of painters. However, I believe that the way photographers make self-portraits is somehow different from the ones that painters make. Painters tend to seek and explore a “unique-self” centripetally, so to speak. On the other hand, artists using photography usually strive to separate and break themselves down at each stage in multi-dimensions at first, and as time goes by, they would accept the transformation
of themselves as the way it is, and record them in photography without idealization.

It can be said that Misako Oba’s photographic series FAUSTUS is also descended from the shared ancestry of the experiment of self-portraits by such artists. […..]

In the wake of the abnormal bleeding from her little finger, she experienced one after another, the stages of ‘fear, sadness, anger, confusion, conflict, despair, and even acceptance, hope, and joy.’

What is unique about her FAUSTUS project is that she continued photographing scrupulously over time the large physical shift, as well as the mental and emotional
fluctuations. In the meantime, she also photographed the drawings made with her own fresh blood, and the notes with trembling characters written by her shaking hand.[…..]  by viewing those images that were recorded over the course of the process, I came to feel her physical pain and emotional shakes. This is a shared solidarity with the personal, unique points of others. More or less, it would be quite possible for us to fall into a similar situation in our lives.

By presenting her story in the form of a self-portrait, Oba seems to be attempting to share her experiences, such as agony and hope, as a more openly universal story, instead of making it an isolated personal incident. Her attempt seems to be admirably successful.”
Some quotes from commentary titled
Sharing of Agony and Hope,
by Kotaro Iizawa (Photography critic) on Misako Oba’s [FAUSTUS]

Photo Critic Kotaro Iizawa