Dis/Association Game
2024
- Design: Natsumi Kato
- Pages: 136
- Language: Japanese, English
- Texts by: Bunmei Shirabe and three other contributors
- Binding: Softcover with elastic band binding
- Size: 165 × 220 mm
This photobook is a collection of discarded images, including misfires, test shots, and uncropped outtakes, accumulated over more than a decade of photographic practice. These images—originally never meant to be presented on their own—were left behind in digital trash bins, stripped of their original contexts and suspended in ambiguity. Devoid of clear meaning, they resist interpretation, existing in an unresolved state.
Through a process of intuitive sequencing and free association, these images are reconfigured into a new visual narrative, transcending the constraints of time and space. The result is a playful yet thought-provoking exploration of how images can generate meaning outside their intended function, inviting viewers to engage in their own interpretative journey.
Accompanying texts, written by contributors from diverse backgrounds—including a photography historian and critic, a scientist, and a young boy in elementary school—serve as guiding threads for interpretation. The book itself is bound with a removable elastic band, allowing readers to freely rearrange the pages and create their own unique visual narratives.
