The Restoration Will

Mayumi Suzuki’s photobook, The Restoration Will, was recommended to me recently, and I think it has become one of the most influential photobooks I have seen to date. The work is not only through provoking, personal, and beautiful, but the layout of the book is effective too. The body of work was taken after the 2011 tsunami in Tohoku, Japan, and included in the series are images taken with Suzuki’s father’s camera, which was uncovered from the rubble of what was once his photo studio. This is combined with damaged family photographs, and images of the destruction. 

The scars on the recovered snapshots sometimes looked like the peninsula on a map. The pacific coast of northern Japan has been the victim of a tsunami many times, including the Meiji Sanriku tsunami in 1896, the Showa Sanriku tsunami in 1933 and a large tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile, South America in 1960. I tried to visualize these images by making a layer with my scarred family snapshot and the geographic map for my book. (Suzuki, 2018.) 

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What I really liked about the layout of the book was that it had special features (like a fold out page, or a single images stuck on top of a page like a flap), but there were not too may of them that it became overwhelming or took away from the flow of the book. It seems at though each special feature has purpose. For example, a photo of the camera that was found is under a flap that must be lifted up, and this flap is part of a full page photo of the rubble. I feel that this represents the discovery of the camera amongst the rubble.

I have been looking at the presentation of a lot of photobooks recently, and I think that sometimes the styles of layout become too erratic. Sometimes, this chaos suits the theme of the book, but other times having to open flaps this way and that way, sliding out inserts and then looking at a smaller book slid into a pocket becomes frustrating. I think that this photobook has a good balance. Each special feature is a discovery.

I also looked at Suzuki’s other works, and particularly liked this image (above) from her ongoing series titled The Place To Belong (4). I particularly like how the line drawing connects the two photographs. This is something that I would like to experiment with in my own wok, although I am not sure how I would incorporate it yet. I do like to draw (although I am not good at it), and sometimes draw things for Shinya- so perhaps it could have some kind of connection? The inclusion of little illustrations or sketches also adds to the personalised feel of the work, and is reflective of a diary or journal, so I don’t think it would be out of place. Of course, I would need to ensure that this is just a small element of the work as a whole. It would need to support and enhance the other work, and not stand out or overshadow the rest of the imagery.

(1) Suzuki, M 2017,The Restoration Will, photographic series, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.mayumisuzuki.jp/therestorationwill>

(2) Suzuki, M 2017, The Restoration Will, artist statement, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.mayumisuzuki.jp/statement01>

(2) Eunobatainium Photobooks, 2018, The Restoration Will, video, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoLsrMYNDmM>

(4) Suzuki, M 2018, Untitled from the seriesThe Place To Belong, photographic series, viewed 21 April 2020, <https://www.mayumisuzuki.jp/the-place-to-belong>