Werra

Even though I am Japanese, I am not a devout Buddhist, but “culturally” I am Buddhist. I believe in reincarnation, and have always wondered what I was in my previous life.

One day, I met a fortune-teller who told me that in my previous life I was a German architect who designed and built bridges in the countryside. The fortune-teller added that I’m going to see those bridges designed and built by my previous self in the near future. So, I went on a road-trip to Germany to look for them.

In the beginning, I was searching for bridges that might interest me, but I soon found myself becoming more interested in the view from the bridges, not the bridges themselves. As a result, I photographed more than two hundred images of landscapes taken from bridges with an 8×10 large-format camera.   

After six weeks of being in Germany, I went back to NY where I am based, and started to develop the film and making prints. I then realized that I was trying to see through the lens and photograph what I might have seen from the bridges in my previous life. Now, every time I see these photographs, my mind drifts back in time.