Okosheizu

Okosheizu

digital photo, 2019

Shot in Japantown in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. I've been (very) slowly making my way through Zen Spaces and Neon Places by Vinayak Bharne, a collection of essays about Japanese architecture and urbanism, an area of study way outside of my knowledge area but interesting nonetheless. One of the essays in that book discusses the almost Mondrian-like aspect of two dimensional spaces in Japanese interiors. According to the author, many traditional Japanese interiors were designed through a process called okosheizu, wherein individual walls were designed independently then fit into the existing roof and framework of the building. None of that was in my mind when this photo was made (and the Japantown mall was obviously not designed utilizing okosheizu), but the linear, flat aspect of Japanese interior space was in my mind when I hurriedly shot this while waiting for my nieces to finish their purchases at a nearby stationary store. The interaction between 2D and 3D space (or the 2D photographic surface and it's relationship to photographic space) has long been a creative interest for me, and this serves as an example of that interest.