Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to present “Tokyo Superdeep Borehole”, an exhibition of works by Eric from May 9th to June 3rd, 2023. Eric came to Japan from Hong Kong in 1997 and had been living in Tokyo for close to 20 years. He moved from Tokyo to Okayama seven years ago, which allowed him to reflect on his way of living and observe Tokyo as a city from a different perspective. This exhibition, our second presentation of Eric’s works, commemorates our new photobook publication released in October 2022 under the same title and will present a fine selection of snapshots from the photobook which he had vigorously taken of Tokyo during the pandemic.

“The camera only scoops up the surface of things. However, depending on the way the photographer takes the photograph, the surface captured can either become a wall that hides what lies beneath or a gate that leads through to it. Passing through the gate, one can go as deep down as one would like.

The surface of people and the scenes created by people sometimes reveal the communal illusion that transforms with time, and those surfaces from the past have become a stratum that sinks from the surface of the earth down to the far depths. “Roots” grow from the things on the surface of the earth, penetrate through the stratum and continue to grow as deep as they can.

I feel as if I have caught a glimpse of the “roots” of the Japanese people in these photographs, though how clearly or how deeply I cannot say.

Answers are not easy to find in the first place. That is the only thing certain.” — ERIC