decotora

Again another cool article in PingMag: Masaru Tatsuki’s Decotora Photo Op showing the decotora, the Japanese truck decorated with lights. The photographer, a photo-ethnographer in fact, stayed 10 years with truckers before producing his book.

Majestic! Elegant! Pretentious!? Make way for the King of the Road. From the “Decotora” photo book. © Masaru Tatsuki | My home is my castle: A portable parlour with all the comforts of home on the highway. Cosy! From the “Decotora” photo book. © Masaru Tatsuki

Tatsuki says in the article:

“About two or three years into the project, I realised that the trucks rather than the drivers were being overly emphasised in the photographs. Because if you don’t define your subject, the subject defines itself. So I started going to meetings where large numbers of truckers would gather. They were all very outgoing, and I gradually felt welcomed into their community. Then, I started to discover things I respected about them - and things I didn’t like. For the first time, I felt I really knew the truckers. I realised that they possess a sense of masculinity that is dying out in Japan. I could also understand their feeling of wanting to decorate the tools they use for work.

People are surprised that I spent ten years on this project, but it simply takes time to really understand something. And I wanted to really understand the things I wanted to express. That is why it took so long.”

This is also something that I do: immerse with the subject. Don’t know if I can call myself a “psychosociologue” (Currently reading Georges Perec, Les choses, 1965 where the author speaks about people conducting open-ended and structured interviews…)

Anyway, decorating a standard vehicle is a matter of appropriation, and we see this phenomenon throughout the world, in India for example… Taking a cab in the Middle East is also particularly interesting… As if you were to travel in a living room.