Tokyo 2010, 10 IMAGES, Polaroid photos transferred to digital print, 100x100cm, Edition 10 + 2 E.A.

Inspired and in reference to Hokusai’s 36 VIEWS OF MOUNT FUJI iconic wood prints I did a series of polaroids of the holy mountain, contemporary interpretations so to speak. Polaroid does not allow an influence on the colour’s outcome. The images were scanned and non-photo shopped digitally printed in orginal colors on 100x100cm handmade paper. Some of the images depict the cliche Fuji, others are conceptual: the mountain’s backside which is anything but even, contextualised in its contemporary surroundings, a factory in the foreground whose smoking chimney makes it appear as if the vulcano was once again active. I researched and discovered the very location at which the artist who did the etching of the holy mountain for the backside of the 1000 Yen note. As mount Fuji was covered by clouds that day I held up the 1000 Yen note in exactly the spot where the holy mountain is to be seen on sunny days.

While we were shooting the film AUN near Mount Fuji, I photographed the sacred mountain from many different angles, following Hokusai’s 36 VIEWS OF MOUNT FUJI. I used a Polaroid camera, which means I had no control over the colors. Later I had the pictures scanned and 100x100cm C-printed on handmade paper. Some of the images show the Fuji cliché, others are more conceptual, e.g. One day, when we were scouting locations for the film, I discovered the exact spot where the artist who carved the sacred mountain for the back of the 1,000 yen note came from. Instead, when Mount Fuji was covered by clouds, I held up the 1000 yen note and took a polaroid…

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