MIDORI MITAMURA

  The title "Till We Meet Again " is a famous American pop song expressing the feeling of lovers who were apart from each other during the First World War. It was written and composed by Richard A. Whiting and Raymond B.Egan, and released in 1918. After the original sung by Henry Burr and Albert Campbell, the song was covered by Margaret Whiting (a daughter of Richard A. Whiting), Patti Page, Doris Day and many other well-known singers.
  For my new artwork, I connect in my mind the title "Till We Meet Again" with meeting my good friends overseas again. For three months, from July to September in 2013, I was in Europe for exhibitions in Vienna and Düsseldorf. Meanwhile, I also traveled to Austria, Italy, and Germany to meet friends again. The lives of my friends are changing slowly but after not meeting for a long time, it seems a lot. Passing the halfway point of my life, I am looking back fondly on my past and wondering 
"When will be the next time to meet them again?";
even
"Can I visit there again?",
regarding what may happen in the rest of my life.
I am also getting sentimental about meetings with new friends that cause similar separations.To meet again people living far away was another big purpose of this trip. 

  While photography and films are my preferred ways to express stories inspired by memories and records, conversations and sounds are this time the most important media. Listening to recorded voices and sounds brings back the past into my body and these images appear with a vividness that is different to photography. On the other hand, I filmed faint tremors by the wind or slight movements of humans and things that don't usually come into sight because those make me realize "I am alive". 

  After coming back from this latest trip, I am still thinking about my friends' everyday lives, which continue their path far away across the sea, while also minding quietly those of my family and friends in Japan. This natural awareness is something that can be experienced by anyone who is aging. "Till We Meet Again" is, then, a work which expresses something present in all our lives.