a visual collective outlet of inspiration

new reprint just out..

“a series of documentary photographs taken by pawel jaszczuk between 2008 and 2010 of tokyo salarymen after a few too many drinks after work gives a whole new meaning to work hard play hard…”

“…pawel, residing in japan at the time, would head out on his bicycle after midnight to photograph different people and places, saying that the best hours for him to shoot would be between 1 am and 4 am.”

“…shortly after he started this body of work in 2009, he published a zine entitled “salaryman” with morel books in black and white and limited to 150 copies and which immediately sold out.”

“…he later published a second book above. pawel has selected images of sleeping salarymen in poses reminiscent of fashion models and the photobook is in the style of a glossy magazine, hence the title high fashion.”

“…according to pawel, this body of work is emphatically not a statement against drinking.”

“…rather, he originally wanted to capture the simple contrast between men in suits and the dirty alleys of tokyo.”

“…but pawel’s comments that with this second publication of “high fashion” he hopes that the work can also be seen as humorous, and in a way an apocalyptic vision of this overworked and overstressed society.”

to us this says less bout working hard, as much as it says, some people drink very hard, and can’t handle themselves very well. and that is not specific to tokyo…

you can work hard or very little, be good at it or suck at it, you will be unhappy until you find work that fulfills a part of you. that is of course easier said than done. but despite its harshness, it still remains the truth. in the absence of finding what you care for, you will always fill your days with something or another to simply forget. insert here : alcohol, drugs, medication, hate, etc.

a third edition of this book is out now, available directly form the photographers website. by uh