Family of lies

In his photobook “Family of Lies,” published by Three Books in Japan, photographer Hajime Kimura confronts his memories and feelings about his own family. As the title suggests, Kimura’s relationship with the subject of family is not an easy one. The photographs in the book are permeated by spectres and a sense of lingering uncertainty. Characters appear as shadows or ghosts, landscapes and interiors are dark or blurred, sometimes to the point of total abstraction. It seems as though Kimura is both searching and asserting himself through his photography. The result is a fascinating, haunting document of Kimura’s inner world. The book opens with a long and extensive interview with Kimura about his work and his family, in both Japanese and English. “I didn’t tell people that both my parents had died until a certain time. There was a time when I talked about my family as if they were still here. I don’t know, but I think my mother and father probably influenced me. When I think about why I used to lie like that. ​I had to admit somewhere that my family was far from the ideal I had imagined, but I didn’t want to admit it out in the open. So in front of my friends, I dreamed of an imaginary family…I used to think of my family as something that I really hated, something I didn’t want to be known, something that was a shameful part of myself.” Hajime Kimura has created and exhibited powerful and poetic black-and-white photographs of matters and existence that are little known or forgotten in Japanese society, such as “matagi” bear hunters, the circumstances and drama of racehorses, and marginalised communities. His exhibitions have been held in many parts of the world and many of his projects have been published. Some of his recent works focuse on his own family. As the title of this book, ‘Family of Lies’, suggests, why did he start producing works about his family, despite the intense feelings he had towards his own family? What happened between himself and his family? And how does he think about and perceive the idea of ‘family’?