honorable mention
Richard Cohen united states
title
Objectives of Desire: Ginza
These images of Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district were shot during Ginza fashion week in March 2016. The Ginza district dates from the 1880’s when its first stores, including the venerable Wako, attracted those whose riches grew along with the power of the “Great Empire”. Today the Ginza is a concentration of the world’s top fashion stores; the glitz and wealth vie with all the global centers. Ginza is an area where at night the shops remain open for one shopper accompanied by their bodyguard and chauffeur, where limos await along empty streets.
“Objectives of Desire” is a photographic project started over 18 months ago, shot through the windows in the fashion centers of Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Paris. These images captivate the viewer, drawing them in. The ambiguity in these images draws the viewer to the puzzle of what attracts them, and why. The alluring fashion interiors manipulate with curious color and texture, eerie light, shiny objects, and ethereal mannequins. The viewer of these images, like the shopper, pauses at the window to decide whether to respond or not.
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entry description
Pleasure neurons in the brain’s temporal lobe are excited by color, light, texture, and design found in high-end fashion and jewelry stores, hair salons, and shoe and handbag shops. Consumerism and the pursuit of fashion is laced with conflicts between desire and need, imitation and individuality, temptation and alienation. An entire industry that occupies prime real estate in the world’s largest cities fulfills the “needs” of the 1%, and sets the pace for the world’s culture.These images of Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district were shot during Ginza fashion week in March 2016. The Ginza district dates from the 1880’s when its first stores, including the venerable Wako, attracted those whose riches grew along with the power of the “Great Empire”. Today the Ginza is a concentration of the world’s top fashion stores; the glitz and wealth vie with all the global centers. Ginza is an area where at night the shops remain open for one shopper accompanied by their bodyguard and chauffeur, where limos await along empty streets.
“Objectives of Desire” is a photographic project started over 18 months ago, shot through the windows in the fashion centers of Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Paris. These images captivate the viewer, drawing them in. The ambiguity in these images draws the viewer to the puzzle of what attracts them, and why. The alluring fashion interiors manipulate with curious color and texture, eerie light, shiny objects, and ethereal mannequins. The viewer of these images, like the shopper, pauses at the window to decide whether to respond or not.
about the photographer
Richard Alan Cohen lives and works in the South End of Boston where he still pursues his college double major in art and science. He graduated from Bowdoin College and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His lifetime interest in art derives from his mother, an art teacher and painter, and his father, a house designer and builder. His cityscape photography exposes the manipulation of urban inhabitants by contemporary design and style. Natural features that organize otherwise chaotic surroundings are emphasized in his landscapes.back to gallery