Artist Statement
Through my work, I search to examine both personal and cultural identity. I returned to Japan after my grandfather’s death to explore my family and cultural roots. I photographed my grandparents’ home village in a series called NADACHI. I found an unexpected connection between the rural village’s unstable economic future and my own conflicted sense of being part of a cultural where I only partially fit in. As I worked, I was very aware of being seen by our neighbors as a Gaijin, or foreigner, despite spending a part of every year of my life in this village.
Each summer for over a decade I return to my grandfather's home in Japan, and with every visit I am further aware of the diminishing town and the recent developments of infrastructure.
I watch as mountains are being excavated to construct highways and bullet trains through my home town in order to make the commute between larger cities more efficient.
Conscious of the undeniable fate I am photographing this town to preserve and remember its existence- both personally and culturally. The photographs examine the deterioration of a once active community and my efforts to forge a connection to a progressively changing landscape.
Seiya Bowen graduated from the University of New Mexico with a BFA in 2014. Bowen’s work deals with personal identity and the human divide. He has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in venues such as SITE Santa Fe Museum, and Center for Fine Arts Photography, and Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Bowen currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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