Seen: Serena Motola
Who: Hajime Sawatari / Serena Motola
Where: Akio Nagasawa, Aoyama (gallery website)
When: March 2 - March 21, 2019 (Open 11am-7pm / 500 yen Entrance fee)
Serena Motola is a young Japanese model and actress with a “look”- a detached coolness peppered with freckles- that is unmistakable. Recently she has been seen all over- she’s appeared on fashion magazine covers, been in many commercials, been the subject of a few photo exhibitions, and has a popular Instagram account.
Hajime Sawatari is a photographer whose contribution to Japanese Photography has been fifty years’ worth of beautiful photographs of beautiful women Motola’s age- pictures which all share the same reserved, cool kind of elegance that reflect the demeanor of the photographer himself.
What I’m trying to say is, the quiet “realness” of the two make for a fine photographic match. Indeed, Motola’s presence and gaze meets and equals Sawatari’s lens work.
The final edit which makes up the exhibition and accompanying photobook is one that’s a perfect balance between both participants- the pictures aren’t too slickly produced. Pictures with “mistakes” in blur and focus are utilized to keep the collection from reaching a technical perfection that would knock the images off of the smooth line of charm on which they glide.