Haruhiko Kawaguchi’s family portraits come with an unique stipulation: he must wrap your complete house in plastic and then vacuum-seal you into an airtight bag.
The Tokyo-based photographer then has only a few seconds to get the shots he requires before releasing his frantic subjects.
The arresting images, which Kawaguchi describes as a “memory snapshot for the family,” are part of his continuing “Flesh Love” project, which has been exploring human connection by shrink-wrapping individuals in plastic for almost two decades.
“When I first started the series, I asked some of my closest friends to see how long they could hold their breath for,” Kawaguchi stated through video conference from Okinawa, Japan.
“So, regardless of whether (I took the photo) or not, I decided to institute a ’10-second rule,’ whereby I open the bag after 10 seconds.”
His photographs have expanded in magnitude since they began with intimate images of couples confined within sealable bags that were originally used to store futons. The photographer encases couples or families, as well as the locations most significant to them — generally their houses, replete with trees, vehicles, and motorcycles — in custom-made plastic sheets in the newest installment of his series, titled “Flesh Love All.”
Kawaguchi, who goes by the moniker Photographer Hal after the talking computer in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” says his images are mostly about love. While his focus has switched from sexual to family connection, his purpose has not changed: to represent human connection in all of its manifestations.
“We pack everything in the background to represent the social connection that the subjects have to the outside world, not just to themselves,” he said, adding, “We pack everything in the background to represent the social connection that the subjects have to the outside world, not just to themselves.”
The custom wraps and setting up a single image can take up to two weeks, and the final photo shoot necessitates the assistance of around seven people. If the photographer is unable to open the bags — or cut them open in an emergency — an assistant is always on hand to do so. During hot summer picture sessions, he also has a portable oxygen tank on standby, as well as a spray to keep people cool.