“My father and I, as a young child, kissing in the photo.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Contrary to this, my childhood memories are completely buried.<\/i><\/p>\n
Four years have passed since my father was taken to the hospital for alcoholism. He had been drinking hea<\/i>vily ever since I can remember, and he and my mother would fight constantly when they were drinking at ni<\/i>ght.<\/i><\/p>\n
After his hospitalization, my father was found to be suffering from alcoholic dementia due to abnormal brain\u00a0<\/i>atrophy caused by years of heavy alcohol consumption. He was unable to understand or recognize that he w<\/i>as an alcoholic at all, and when he returned home, he was extremely likely to drink again. He was moved to a<\/i>n assisted living facility about eight months after his hospitalization.<\/i><\/p>\n
My father was consumed by alcohol that crept into the void of his mind and ravaged his mind and body.<\/i><\/p>\n
Through such an alcoholic father, I was forced to confront human weakness, the sadness and emptiness of life,\u00a0<\/i>and the fragility of life. When I look back on my own past growing up with such a father, I am forced to conf<\/i>ront the memories and emotions that were dormant in the depths of my soul. I was forced to re-experience the\u00a0<\/i>undigested memories and emotions that I must have had in my childhood, such as feelings of constant unfulfill<\/i>ment, loneliness, guilt, alienation, frustration without reason, and uncontrollable emotions. I was astonished to\u00a0<\/i>be reminded that the everyday life I took for granted at the time was not the norm in the eyes of the world.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Most of all, I was confronted with who I am “discovering” that I had been acting defensively and alarmingly to\u00a0<\/i>keep a lid on those memories and feelings. The blade of alcohol, the blade that had destroyed my father, was fli<\/i>pped to me, together related as parent and son. And now I have an unfathomable fear that this blade will turn\u00a0<\/i>on my son as well. I have had too much to drink, and I can be foul-mouthed and emotional towards my son. The\u00a0<\/i>thought of my son having to go through the same horrible things I did is distressing, and the word “chain” ha<\/i>unts me like a ghost.<\/i><\/p>\n
Both my father, who became addicted to alcohol, and I, who grew up with a father like that, have a void in\u00a0<\/i>our hearts that they cannot carry. As I say, everyone has a void in their hearts to varying degrees. Everyone\u00a0<\/i>has the potential to turn to alcohol to fill that void, so I learned from my father to understand him as a hum<\/i>an being with a void in his heart, rather than labeling alcoholics as corrupt.<\/i><\/p>\n
Unfortunately, my father’s recovery has been extremely difficult. But my son and I will work together to br<\/i>eak free from the spell cast by the chain of events.”<\/i><\/p>\n
Yusuke Takagi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photography by Yusuke Takagi<\/strong><\/p>\n IN COLLABORATION WITH CEIBA EDITION AND PHOTOLUX FESTIVAL<\/strong><\/p>\n Size of the book: 16,5 x 22,5cm<\/p>\n 172 pages + 16 on PVC \u2013 five color\u00a0printing<\/p>\n Soft cover + Swiss Binding<\/p>\n Published in English and Japanese<\/p>\n First Edition\u00a0750 copies<\/p>\n ISBN\u00a0978-88-945155-5-8<\/p>\n Cover price: 60 Euro (VAT included)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[738],"product_tag":[1447,1448,1449,867,870,1242,878,881,1450,1451,1452,1045,1453],"class_list":["post-10856","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-books-en","product_tag-alcoholism-en","product_tag-ceiba-en","product_tag-ceiba-publishing-en","product_tag-japanese-photobook-en","product_tag-japanese-photographer-en","product_tag-japanese-photography-en","product_tag-lartiere-en","product_tag-lartiere-publishing-en","product_tag-photoboox-award-2022-en","product_tag-photolux-festival-en","product_tag-spin-en","product_tag-yumi-goto-en","product_tag-yusuke-takagi-en","first","instock","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t