VIEWS
Views is a free interpretation of the work Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Created in the first half of the 19th century, this series of woodblock prints depicts scenes of daily life or landscapes, all of which share a common feature: Mount Fuji appearing in the background. These picturesque scenes of life and minimally altered landscapes no longer exist today, but they continue to shape the way we imagine Mount Fuji.
Views aims to transpose Hokusai's work into the 21st century. Like the prints, each photograph features Mount Fuji. Here, it is not the mountain that has changed, but its surroundings, which have now been heavily transformed by human development. The rice fields and idyllic landscapes have been replaced by parking lots and chains of convenience stores. The craftsmanship and rural life depicted by Hokusai have given way to the urban life of towns such as Gotemba, Kawaguchiko, and Fujinomiya.
Despite all these changes, it is striking to observe that, like an unchanging beacon, Mount Fuji continues to draw the gaze and attract people. It remains the central point toward which everything converges, the one and only vanishing point.
