Conceptual - NOMINEE: Mankichi Shinshi

Following from Darwin’s theory of evolution, we are the extension of plants and animals—therefore, human beings can also be defined as a part of “nature.” Despite this fact, when looking for “nature”, most people ignore the human component and praise only the parts that are green, lush and wild. I think this rationale is based on the excessive guilt we feel as a society, a guilt stemming from the ceaseless advancement of modern technology and development all over the planet. So, I started this project as an antithesis to the “old idea of nature” like that is displayed on Google image search. I intentionally collected photographs to be emphasized the “unnaturalness made by human and artifact”. By affirming properly the feeling of weirdness in our everyday environments, I want to record the appearance of "modern nature".

About author:
Mankichi Shinshi (born in 1984) is street / documentary photographer based in Japan. He started photography in 2013 with self-taught style. And now, at various public places mainly in Asia, he's walking around and taking photographs. It’s a seeking of the way of confronting the scenes where anyone can see (= general society), from his individual eyes. He pushes the shutter button when he feels “something”, and names to “something” as a photo project. By stacking such activities, he tries to affirm this world's fragments one by one.