Seen: Silent Mode 2018
Who：瀬戸正人 Masato Seto
Where：Place M, Shinjuku
When: February 5 -11, 2018 (12-7pm)
Seto’s original Silent Mode series was a collection of candid, up-close portraits of women lost in thought in trains. His Konica Hexar, with its unique silent mode function, allowed him to make photographs of near uncomfortable closeness without the subject’s knowledge. The ramifications of the moral parts of this are part of the viewing experience.
Silent Mode 2018 is a sister-series to its predecessor. Again Seto fills his frames with the faces of women- their beauty comes from distinct individuality as a person, not in a way that reflects or meets conventional societal expectations for what “beautiful” is. Peering close at the prints one notices that most are either on the verge of tears or have tear-stained cheeks. The photographer happened to enter the gallery while I was there- I asked him what happened to make all these women cry- “It was the cold wind” he said. Only then did I realize that every photo was shot outside in winter. Seto told me each exposure (digital) was about ten seconds long. That’s enough time for tear-blurred eyes and wind-blurred hair. It’s also long enough for a subject to fall into their own silent mode.