Shore

Shore by Yuki Shimizu is a mixture of narratives by various beings. Included in this photo book are photographs she took on her travels along the water’s edge, words inspired by old stories she learned there and memories of others, and images generated by the decomposition of negative film with mold and sea water.

Water is an essential part of people’s lives, but at the same time, it is a source of great misery. In rural Japan, people have long worshipped rivers as dragons and offered sacrifices in reservoirs. Although the tsunami killed many people, we cannot give up our hope and faith in something that comes from beyond the sea.

Such experiences led Yuki Shimizu on a journey to pursue the spirituality of beings living by the water. In the mountains of Japan, she photographed rivers where princesses who committed suicide by entering the water became dragon gods, ponds where sacrifices were made. She photographed the underground waters of Israel, people singing the joy of water, the ruins of an oasis town in Uzbekistan, and the desert where an ancient lake dried up in New Mexico. Along the way, she collected folklore about dragon gods and sacrifices, records of floods, tsunamis, and flood control, and wrote stories inspired by them.