In July 2021, my first artist book, THE LAST SUMMIT, was completed and published.
This book is a hand-bound photo book, produced by me, the artist, from printing to binding.
My father died in a mountain climbing accident in July 2017.
What did climbing mean to my father, a gentle, family man? This film is about my father. This work is a project in which I attempted to have a dialogue with my late father by facing and reliving his last climb.
Statement
THE LAST SUMMIT
My father died in a slip-and-fall accident on July 15, 2017, at Mt. Ryokami in Chichibu County, Saitama Prefecture. At the beginning of that year, he was in the hospital to receive treatment and surgery for liver cancer, which was discovered in September of the previous year. After leaving the hospital in March, my father was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, but he had gradually resumed working and continued his hobby of mountain climbing.
“Dad went out to the mountains yesterday morning and never came back. ……”
It was a sunny morning when I received a phone call from my mother, and then it felt as if the ground was crumbling beneath my feet. After filing a missing person’s report at the police station near my parents’ house, my father-in-law gave me a ride to Mt. Ryokami.
As much as I wanted my father to be safe, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if I couldn’t find him. I was feeling hopeless. As if to reflect my feelings, it began to rain heavily as we approached the site. Before arriving at Mt. Ryokami, I received a call from the Ogano Police Station in Saitama Prefecture. They informed me that the body of someone matching my father’s description had been discovered at the bottom of the trail. When I checked the body that had been brought to the police station, it was unmistakably my father’s face. It was a hot summer day, so his body was cremated as it was. My family didn’t get to see his face on his last day.
When the nightmarish day for our family was over, what came to my mind as I was driving back to Tokyo from Chichibu, was not so much sadness over his death but rather anger over why he had gone climbing despite his health condition so soon after the surgery.
About a week after my father’s funeral, I remembered that I had family photos in a drawer of a cupboard in my parents’ house. I searched through the images, trying to find a glimpse of my father, and came across a large number of photos of him climbing mountains, which had never caught my attention before. The image of him in his mountaineering clothes and backpack, looking contented in nature as far as the eye could see, was different from the gentle father I knew at home.
I wondered why mountain climbing fascinated my father so much. To ease the resentment caused by accident, I began to look for what he saw in it. Relying on his notes, I started to purchase climbing gear, including clothing and food. I decided to climb the mountains he climbed.
Shu Watanabe
Book Information
THE LAST SUMMIT
Artistbook by Shu Watanabe
- 15,400 JPY
- Language: Japanese or English
- Page: 204page
- Size: 215 x 312 x 24mm
- 69 editions only (all made to order)
- Each edition will be signed and give the edition number by the artist
- Photo / Edit / Binding / Print: Shu Watanabe
- The book concept, storyline, and art direction developed: Yumi Goto at Reminders Photography Stronghold
- English Proofreading: Sachie Takagi, Marc Kaufman
- Photos provided: Katsumi Kawashima, Yuko Kawashima, Tomoki Sato, Kazuo Fukata, Mizuko Yamaoka, Norihisa Watanabe
The book can be ordered at the following URL
https://reminders-project.org/rps/thelastsummit_saleen/
Media
Fisheye Magazine #52
“THE LAST SUMMIT” was featured in issue 52 of Fisheye Magazine, a French photography magazine, as one of its special features, with a 10-page frontispiece.
Introductory article on the Web.
https://www.fisheyemagazine.fr/rdv/cest-dans-le-mag/mont-pere/
En hommage à son #père, alpiniste disparu en #montagne, Shu Watanabe a suivi ses pas jusqu’au mont Ryōkami dans « The Last Summit ». 🇯🇵🗻
— Fisheye Magazine (@Fisheyelemag) April 14, 2022
➡️https://t.co/ITut0ASgiA
Cet article est à retrouver dans notre dernier numéro : https://t.co/i3xwQIkTRV pic.twitter.com/kGFKbBzflQ
Webshop
https://www.fisheyemagazine.fr/store/produit/fisheye-magazine-52/
Favorite Photobooks of 2021
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/lensculture-editors-favorite-photobooks-of-2021
Visual artist and writer Magali Duzant selected this book in the “Favorite Photobooks of 2021” sponsored by LensCulture, an online contemporary photography magazine.
Exhibition
THE LAST SUMMIT: Shu Watanabe’s photo exhibition
- Venue: Reminders Photography Stronghold (Tokyo)
- Date: 2021.07.10-07.25
2021年7月、私の初のアーティストブック『THE LAST SUMMIT』が完成し刊行されました。
本書は印刷から製本まで作家によって作り出される手製本の写真集です。
私の父は、2017年7月に登山中の滑落事故により亡くなりました。
「優しく、家族思いだった父にとって登山とは何だったのか？」。
本作は、私が父の最期の登山と向き合い、追体験することで亡き父との対話を試みたプロジェクトです。
—
THE LAST SUMMIT
私の父は2017年7月15日、埼玉県秩父の両神山で、登山中の滑落事故により亡くなった。前年の9月に発覚した肝臓がん手術のため、年初に入院し、3月に退院。術後に肝硬変が発覚したものの、仕事や趣味の登山を少しずつ再開していた矢先だった。
「お父さんが昨日の朝、山に出かけたきり帰ってこないんだけど……」
快晴の朝に母からかかってきた電話の内容を聞いて、私は足元から地面が崩れていくような感覚がした。実家の近くの警察署で捜索願を出した後、妻の父が運転する車に乗せてもらい、私は両神山へ向かった。
父に無事でいてほしいと思う気持ちと同じくらい、このまま父が見つからなかったら、どうなるのだろうか？という考えが止まらず、絶望的な気持ちにもなっていた。私の気持ちを反映するかのように、現地に近づくにつれて激しく雨が降ってきたが、両神山に着く直前で現地の警察署から、父らしき人物の遺体が登山道の下で発見されたという連絡を受けた。警察署に運ばれてきた遺体を確認すると、それは紛れもなく父の顔だった。夏の暑い時期だったこともあり、父の遺体はそのまま火葬に回された。それゆえ、私以外の家族は、父の最期の顔を見ることがなく別れることとなった。
悪夢のような1日が終わり、秩父から東京へ帰る車中で私の頭に去来したのは、父が亡くなって悲しいという気持ちよりも、術後間もない体調を押して、なぜ父は登山に行ったのか？という憤りの気持ちだった。
葬儀など全てを終えて1週間ほどたった頃、私は実家の食器棚の引き出しに家族の写真が入っていたことを思い出した。父の面影を求めて写真を探してみると、これまで目に留まっていなかった父の登山写真が大量に出てきた。登山用のウエアやリュックを身にまとい、見渡す限りの自然の中で満足そうな表情をしている父の姿は、私が知っている、家庭での優しい父の姿とは異なっていた。
父にとって、登山とはどれほど魅力的だったのだろうか。事故で生じた憤りを消化するために、私は父が感じていた登山の魅力を知りたいと思うようになった。父の遺したメモを頼りに、ウエアや食事など登山に必要な装備をそろえ、父が登った山に登ることを決めた。
渡部周
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- 本文：204ページ
- 言語：日本語または英語
- サイズ：215 x 312 x 24mm
- 部数：69部
- 写真・編集・印刷・製本: 渡部周
- コンセプト、ストーリーライン、アートディレクション：後藤由美（リマインダーズフォトグラフィーストロングホールド）
- 英文校正：高木祥衣、Marc Kaufman
- 写真提供：川島克巳、川島祐子、佐藤朝記、深田和夫、山岡瑞子、渡部紀久
- 価格：15,400円。 全エディション署名入り
本のご注文は以下のURLよりお願いします。
https://reminders-project.org/rps/thelastsummit_salejp/
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