Born and raised in Japan, Mankichi Shinshi doesn’t miss an occasion to travel out of the island to take photographs. He started in 2013 capturing the atmosphere of quiet mid-night streets.
He gradually started to work in a more conscious approach, interpreting the world by affirming something in the frame and by leaving other elements out. “For me, it’s important that the theme is the real world. Because of the reality, I pick photography”.
His non-staged photographs typically point to street photography, but first he thinks the process as a self-documentary, reflecting a part of himself out on the street. “In other words, it’s an interpretation of this world with my selfish eyes”.
That being said, several photographs of this feature are part of his series based on Darwin’s theory of evolution: Natural Nature. This body of work evokes human existence and ego as a “natural appearance of our era”, by shooting “artificial landscapes” from “unnatural perspective” in our ordinary lives.
Enjoy his series on his website and flickr.
