Interview Kiko Mizuhara & Monica Motegi | Photo Exhibition "Dream Continued Dream Blue"

——It seems that this group of works was taken during a road trip through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but why did you decide to release the photos taken four years ago?

Monica Motegi (hereafter, Motegi) "When I took this picture, I didn't think about making a book, but Kiko, I and the designer Kristen went on a road trip and took it naturally without any plans. But I've always wanted to show it to the world because I liked this photo the most in my career, and I was able to capture my true self and my true rare child. I didn't really think about when to come out, but in the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to do my best to do what I wanted to do, and that triggered me to make it in three months."

Kiko Mizuhara (Suwon) "The main purpose of this trip was to be released into nature, not to take pictures. But all of them are very special. Before Corona, I was honest with some things I liked, but when I felt a sense of danger that I didn't know what will happen tomorrow, I wanted to send out what I really liked and what I value, and by showing myself in the natural body, I wanted to feel a little freedom and a sense of liberation, and I thought it would be good as it was."

——Did you choose the photos to be included in the photo book?

Suwon "Yes. But since Monica has all the photos, she basically lays out everything while sharing them."

Motegi: "When I dug up the picture, there were some things that I didn't remember what I took, so I reviewed it while remembering it. When I traveled, I was 24 years old and Kiko was 26 years old, and my private life was also emotional, so it was a very special memory, so I was relived while reviewing the photos I cut out."

——What are the points when choosing a photo?

Suwon: "It's the sun that Monica was particular about."

Motegi "Yes, the flow of sunrises and sunsets. I felt like I was following the sun for three days when I was on the road trip."

Suwon "At the beginning of the photo book, the sun rises and it becomes a sunrise, and the sun falls from there. I felt the sun very much when I was shooting."

Motegi: "The last photo is completely dark with the sun sinking, and there is no one, so it feels a bit scary, spiritual, and Kiko looks like crying."

——What are the most impressive episodes in your journey?

Suwon: "There are so many, but on the last day I drove a place like Canyon where there is a big rock and the desert spreads out. Then suddenly I could see the white world. I was so surprised and excited that I didn't expect to be snow scene from the desert."

Motegi "and in July. It was a very mysterious place where the landscape was diagonally occurring, with snow falling from the desert after about 30 minutes of driving. It's warm even though there's snow."

Suwon: "Nobody was there, and it was really like a dream. Another thing, Kristen said, "If you open your legs toward the sun, you can absorb the energy of the sun, so let's do it," and then I took a picture of lying down on a blue picnic blanket (laughs). It was a very valuable experience. It was pleasant and liberative."

Motegi: "Yes, I want everyone to try it."

Suwon: But I think it's difficult because I have to look for places where no one is there (laughs)."

——At the same time, I felt that my body was my own, and at the same time, I felt that my body was my own.

Suwon: "It's a big premise, and I don't have that kind of consciousness when shooting. It's like I've really returned to a natural person, it's a beautiful place, and since there's no one, I'm barefoot and naked. Then Monica shoots it with an experience that strangely springs up, makes me happy, makes me feel like I want to run, I am impressed and emotional, and anyway, my heart is shaking all the time. When I publish a nude photo book or go to a movie with a lot of exposure, I think that it is often perceived negatively like a "nood of determination", but this is not at all, but it is really the state where I am there as it is. That's why if a woman came to see it as if she had worked hard and became naked or stretched her body, she would surely beat her out. It's not a sexual feeling at all, it's like a human hymn that captures a woman's naked body positively."

Motegi: "Isn't photography really change the impression just by the angle of the body? This is not a sexual part, but I think something like strength naturally comes out. The photo climbing a large rock looks very strong, and Kiko feels like an ancient person. If you touch the soil barefoot, something will change after all. I want anyone to run naked in nature at least once. It's really free and feels good. When I look at this photo, I feel that freedom is not sexual."

Suwon: "I felt that all of this shooting was left to myself naturally and became a part of nature. I think it's really true. The experience of being freed naked in nature, whether you can do it once in your life. I think that the sense of freedom in the photo can be felt as a human-to-human person, regardless of age or gender."

——This photo is exactly the case, but for Suwon, Mogi is always a photographer who captures his true self. What was the reason that the relationship of trust between you was established?

Suwon: "At first, I often met at work, but I really liked the photos she took, and I was a fan. The circumstances I grew up were similar, and my favorite music, art, and culture were similar. You may have liked to go to places with nature, but the wavelengths are right."

Motegi: "For some reason, their lives are always synchronized. For example, if I fell in love, she would fall in love too. That's why I can talk at the same time, understand each other, and have fun without doing anything."

Suwon: "The timing of love and separation are almost the same (laughs). They talk a lot and encourage each other, and they look at the event from a bird's-eye view, and that conversation somehow leads to work. It's a very mysterious relationship that can't be defined in words and is connected somewhere. I don't think I can meet many people like this."

——What is Suwon's appeal as a subject for Mogi?

Motegi: "Kiko doesn't make his own limit." When I shoot other people, I sometimes feel a little restraining, but Kiko is not afraid of showing her true face, so it's really fun as a photographer. I don't want to look cool, but trust you."

Suwon: "Monica doesn't like poses too. When I sometimes pose, I drop my camera down (laughs). The reason why Monica's photo feels cinematic is probably because I'm taking a movement. There's no feeling of resting at all, and I feel like I'm alive. That's her charm. I like that kind of photography, and those who take such photos are rare, and those who have great special ability to draw out the best part of the subject."

Motegi: "This filming had a lot of miraculous moments. That running photo was just like the rainbow in the reflection of the lens."

Suwon: "There were a lot of pictures that were only uncalculated miracles even though they were not measured with an exposure meter."

Motegi: "At the exhibition hall, you can see almost all of the photos taken at this time in the light box."

Suwon: "I think this will give you a better view of how natural these photos were taken in the environment. It's also a very important part in the exhibition."

——Mr. Mogi seems to have liked PARCO advertisements, but what did you feel about the exhibition and publication at PARCO?

Motegi “Before I started photography, I loved PARCO commercials from the 1970s and 1980s, and we approached this exhibition and photo book. But I was so happy that I was able to do so freely."

Suwon "Park has been creating culture for a long time, so there is a great deal of respect for art, and it was encouraging and grateful because the values there were together. This photo was taken in a very valuable time for us, so I wanted to express it realistically in a way that we would never regret if we put it out, in a way that we would never regret it, but I was really happy to have something more than we imagined."

——At Shibuya PARCO, Mr. Suwon has also opened a store with his own brand "OK" (in CYCLE POP UP STORE) in the planning of "CYCLE" with the theme of sustainability.

Suwon: "I think it's important for everyone to be aware of sustainability, so there are times when living as an individual, but I think there are things that can be conveyed through fashion. Nowadays, we dismantle used clothes for children to make bags, and we make knit cardigans, bags, hats, etc. using recycled fiber from the collected clothing garbage. At the last POP UP, my sister made stuffed toys and cushions using used clothes were popular and sold out immediately, so my sister is making stuffed toys from used clothes again this time. In addition, we plan to sell a mask holder that dismantles all parts of accessories that are no longer used and connects them to a single chain. It's very hard because it's handmade one by one, but it's rewarding. I think that it is very important to tell and show that things that are thrown away can be born and transformed in such a beautiful form, so I'm challenging little by little. I think it would be great if you could feel the value of such things."

Kiko Mizuhara Photo Book “Dream Continued Dream Blue” Kiko Mizuhara Motegi Monica Signed Photo Book Present

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