Incongruous is a word often used to describe the culture of Japan and many photographers have devoted themselves to seeking out these notions of the bizarre and curious within the country. Ilse Leenders’ work flirts with these issues and what it means to photograph Japan, yet the resulting imagery is more concerned with the interplay between modern urban life and tradition, in a performance played out on the streets of Tokyo.



Two small children form a line of shiny red apples, teetering precariously on the edge of a step. They slowly make their way upwards, seemingly participating in a well-thought out task. The robotic arm movements of a traffic warden are created in a single frame while a metallically draped car sleeps silently on an empty street. An abandoned, overgrown lot is scattered with groupings of empty plastic bottles, appearing to be secretly conversing with each other. In her series of nine images, Leenders manages to both infer and construct the duality of life in Japan – that of duty and the banal. Quiet and unassuming, the photographs take on the form of a monogatari (story), reciting a lyrical and imaginative narrative.



Lauren Heinz (editor of Foto8)





2nd Jury Prize Conceptual - Viewbook PhotoStory 2009

www.viewbookphotostory.com