Paul Jett

“Sheltering in Place and Dreaming of Japan”

The Covid pandemic, with its stay-at-home orders and restrictions on travel, led me to revisit and work on older photographs, some of which I had never processed or printed. In particular, I found myself drawn to images taken during many trips to Japan over the course of thirty years. The result of this effort was “Dreaming of Japan,” a series that reflected my yearning for a life where we will feel able to travel safely and freely again, go places we have never been before, and return to places we long to see once more. With their sometimes dream-like quality, the images are intended to emphasize how unreal and distant a return to “normal” life has felt. And as I was preparing these images, I realized that I was also creating an homage to some of the great Japanese photographers of the late 20th century that I admire so much.

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