Louis O'Connor

Cella of Obsolescence: A Living Archive of Lonely Death

As I pour over these prints, the eyes that look back at me seem unfamiliar, as if looking from far away. This is a face that Tokyo has forgotten, obscured behind closed doors, relegated to the pile of our collective amnesia. This face, my face, immortalised and strange in the light and shade of the Cella.

The Cella of Obsolescence offers a sanctuary for a collection of the overlooked faces of Kakurega. Apertures through a lattice core and incisions in the vault, serve to expose the circulation of the public whilst simultaneously guarding the sanctity of the archival material, and its subjects. The building's two privileged, central voids offer complimentary spaces, one where photographic printing is embraced as a collaborative practice between the elderly and the atelier workers, and another for the remembrance of those passed.