Description
Omote Ura
When my paternal grandmother’s house had my Aunt Yuko coming back from Tokyo, she always brought small gifts. As a child I remember the smell that escaped from those boxes when they were opened, so different from the smells I was used to. It is said that when you enter your own home you cannot recognize your own smell, on the contrary you can perfectly distinguish the smell when you enter other people’s homes. Only after a long journey does the smell of home even seem new to us. Japan has always meant a second home for me. Walking the streets on my first trip to Tokyo, present images blurred with those of memory. The union between the outer and inner worlds formed a kind of link between experiences and places, as if that same path had already been traveled. The Omote Ura project, simplistically translated, means “outside and inside.” Two basic words that are used to identify the principle of Japanese culture. In fact, “Omote” refers to the relationship with the outside world and what certain behavior to take in society. “Ura,” on the other hand, indicates a person’s intimate and private sphere. Inserting myself on the threshold between these two worlds, I researched similarities and differences of a country that is foreign to me, but which I have always felt so familiar. There were moments when a deep connection happened with what I was seeing and feeling at a certain time and space. Living in a globalized historical period, it becomes habitual not so much to recognize oneself in a place, but in the common feeling that each of us attaches to the idea of home through a specific atmosphere.
