The magazine of the photo-essay
May 2017 back issue
by Michael Hughes
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
It is dawn and I’m sitting on the 26th floor of a breakfast bar in Asia. The few early
morning guests sit in rows, eating silently and stare out across the city through
vast plate glass windows.
On the streets below, the people pay their respects at the temple; praying for good
fortune. Everywhere there is industry, fashion, hunger, lust, traffic, faith, trade, grief,
pleasure, compassion, passion; the conditional and the unconditional – ceaseless,
unstoppable constant endeavour.
Suddenly, and very menacingly, black crows have found something of interest a
few floors below. They suddenly swoop up past me, rising on the air current; they
turn gracefully mid-air and dive back down with ferocious intent.
I sense the impending violence. It is unstoppable. It feels like destiny.
There will be change.
The Day After This Night is a photographic project that considers how events can consume and overwhelm us. There is
a very human approach to try and control our lives, but frequently we are left simply endeavouring to process an event
and adapt to the consequences.
Whilst my images geographically cover street life, landscapes and portraiture from across Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Burma, Thailand and Singapore, they touch on a common humanity that transcends simple boundaries. From the
tsunami hit region of Japan, to Khmer Rouge survivors in Cambodia through to the decayed elegance of Yangon and
the motorbike madness of Saigon, there is an overwhelming energy – both natural and man-made. At one time
gloriously compassionate, charming and graceful; in the next, unspeakably destructive through to downright evil.
Our lives at times seem so complicated, and yet at other moments, it is apparent that we are of no significance at all. It
is this human struggle to accept either state that interests me as an artist.
Bou Meng - Khmer Rouge Torture Survivor, Cambodia.
“Beware of the love…” Image #01
Shame.
Love Dolls #01 - Tokyo, Japan.
Tsunami - Primary School - Kitakaki, Japan.
Lady’s Hat - Vietnam.
“Beware of the love…” Image #02
Chum Mey - Khmer Rouge Torture Survivor, Cambodia.
Unconditional.
Tsunami - High Street, Kesennuma, Japan.
Love Dolls #02 - Tokyo, Japan.
Taishu Engeki - Theatre of the Masses, Tokyo.
Hospital Kitchen - Yangon (Rangoon, Burma).
Monkey Head Jar.
Burma Railway.
