Group 3 'Mono' Reviews: 'Along the Sobu Line' at Up Field Gallery

A member begins:

  Our group 3 went to Up Field Gallery in Suidobashi. It takes only 3 minutes to go there from Suidobashi station. The gallery is on the 3^rd floor of an old building. It was a little bit difficult for us to find the gallery because there were some similar buildings. We took a small elevator to the 3^rd floor. The gallery is not so big and almost quiet so we could enjoy photographs slowly and carefully. There were about sixty photographs. Some people were also in the gallery.

Another tells us about the gallery, layout, and show:

 You can use JR sobu line, Hanzomon line, or Tozai line so as to get to the gallery. It takes three-minute walk from Suidobashi Station. Or it takes ten-minute walk from Kudanshita Station. When I arrived at the gallery, I thought it difficult to find. From a sketch of the gallery, we can see like this from the top: The total length of the wall is 30 meters. The height from the floor to the ceiling is 3 meters. There is a room of 42.6 square meters. I thought the room was small. The lights are incandescent lamps. When I entered the room, what I thought interesting was that two yellow lines were painted on the white walls. Yellow lines are known as a characteristic of JR sobu line. And I also thought it interesting that photographs were hanged on the wall like windows of a train!

The first member returns:

 We saw the show; titled “Along the SobuLine”. The Sobu line is a kind of train, which runs between Chiba and Tokyo. I take this line every day because the Sobu line passes Yotsuya station and Shinkemigawa station, the nearest station where I live now. So I’m very familiar with the Sobu line. By going to Up Field gallery to Suidobashi station, Sobu line also is being used.

 The photographer is Tatsumi Yamaguchi. He was born in Aichi in 1969 and now he lives in Saitama. He studied design at Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1998. His photographs were taken nearby train stations. His way of taking photograph is get into the train which he chose, get off each station, walk around the station and take photographs. Sometime he takes photographs from inside the train. We asked him the reason why he takes photographs around the station.

According to him, when he doesn’t know what picture he should take, it suddenly came to his idea, abruptly inspired by taking pictures nearby the train station. He already took photographs along Keihintohoku line and Yamanote line and he held exhibitions of these pictures in 2008 and 2011.

  He was very kind. He talked with everybody who visited his show. We talked with him a little, and then he showed us all photographs he took along the Sobu line. Moreover, he gave us a cup of tea and gave us postcards of his pictures as souvenirs.

 The third group member also comments on the gallery, layout and show:

I felt that the building was dark and a little uncomfortable for me to stay in for hours.  However, as soon as we entered the gallery, that feeling faded completely.  The gallery was bright, and I felt very comfortable while I stayed there.  There are five people other than us when we arrived at the gallery.

The name of the show was ‘Along the Sobe Line.’  We went to the gallery on the last day of the show.  The pictures that he took between Tsudanuma Station and Mitaka Station were exhibited.  There were about sixty pictures, and they were displayed in a unique way.  Two yellow lines were painted on the white wall, and almost all the pictures were placed between them.  The frames of the pictures were white rounded square.  This arrangement made us feel as if we were looking out of the train window.  Also, we could hear the sound of trains running when we were in the gallery.

This picture was taken at a shopping street in Kameido.  An old woman is sitting on the street and looking at a woman who sells rice balls.  It seems that the old woman is talking to the woman, and the woman is listening to the old woman.  There is another listener besides the woman: a cat is sitting under the counter of the shop, and listening to what the old woman says.  I can feel the friendly atmosphere of the shitamachi section from this picture.  Not only from this but from all the photographs of people he took, I can feel warm humanity.  That is why I like the photographs of people that he took.  I thought his kindness appears on his photographs. The photographers work can also be found here.