#dentsu

The Secret World of Arrietty

Worldwide Creative Journal nº14

2013 Spring

QONVERSATIONS

Our interviewer this time is Eguchi Rika, who works as an art director at Dentsu and continues to produce unique works as an artist. She has also asked Mika Ninagawa, a photographer and film director, to interview her. Ninagawa, a mother of one, has released photobooks of numerous celebrities and her own collections of work, and in recent years has also produced sensational works in the visual arts, such as the films "Helter Skelter" and AKB48's "Heavy Rotation." Eguchi, who also has a two-year-old child, will pose a variety of questions to her.

Q. When I visited you at your house the other day, you were drinking until about 3am. But the next day, I heard that you were going to the aquarium with your kids that morning, which surprised me a lot. How much time off do you have?

Ninagawa: If I wasn't on a continuous overseas business trip, I could take about one day a week off. Weekends have become especially important since I had children, so if I have a free day on either the weekend, I always make sure to go somewhere with my kids. I feel the worst when I'm just lazing around, and I can't relax at home. In the end, when you have kids, isn't being at home the most tiring? Kids are only interested in their mothers, so you have to give them full attention, and they get fussy in small spaces. That's what drains my energy the most, so it's actually more fun for both me and my kids if we go out somewhere with friends.

SoftBank [PANTONE∞] / Eguchi Rika

Q. You are working on the front lines while also raising a child, but have you ever hit a wall?

Ninagawa: Having a child definitely forced me to make some changes. For example, before I started shooting my own films, I would wait for something to come to me, but now I can't make my own schedule, so I have to get up to speed while my child is at kindergarten. At first, I was confused by the need to control my time like that.

Q. At what point did you start to get the hang of things?

Ninagawa: It was when my child was about two years old. When he was one year old, I was still breastfeeding, and even if I tried to push myself to work, the mere sound of my child crying would turn me off, so it was mentally very tough. I was able to get a lot of work done, but it wasn't until my child turned two that I was able to work on my own projects. Until then, I had been feeling a lot of stress from not being able to do what I wanted to do. But the frustration that had been building up until then was finally released. I think that's why we were able to make "Helter Skelter."

"Helter Skelter" / Mika Ninagawa

©2012 "Helter Skelter Film Partners

Q. I think that work is truly amazing. What's more, as a fellow mother, I can't believe that you worked on it while raising a child. When working on a project like this, I think you have to give it your all and have the strong will to say, "This is who I am," otherwise you'll end up losing out to the work.

Ninagawa: My main theme at the time was not to run away. I always wanted to run away on set, and even when I was watching the monitor at the front, I would suddenly wish I was a little further back, like the makeup artists. So every morning I would go on stage saying, "I'm not running away!" I actually didn't have a boyfriend at the time, so I had no way to escape and I couldn't even complain, which is probably why I was able to fight. If I had had a boyfriend at the time, the film might have been more romance-oriented. Real life and film inevitably link together in embarrassing ways, and this film was based on my complexes about myself as a woman, so I had to dig up all the horrible things men had said to me in the past and all the unpleasant memories and face myself, so it was interesting but also extremely tough.

AKB48 "Heavy Rotation"/Mika Ninagawa

Photo by Mika Ninagawa

Q. AKB48's music video for "Heavy Rotation" also attracted a lot of attention, becoming the most viewed video on YouTube.

Ninagawa: Up until then, no woman had ever shot an AKB48 music video, and the fact that they specifically asked me to do it made me think that it would be best to do something different. So I thought it would be good to create a vulnerable feeling that only women have, like on a girls' school trip. I always try to be conscious of why I've been asked to do a request and what they're asking me to do. Most of the time, when I'm asked to do something, it's not something conventional, but when they want to change something up, or when they're a newcomer and want to add their own unique style. So I'm often asked to do something that's just on the edge of cheating.

AKB48

"2013 Official Calendar BOX Eguchi Rika

That's often the case (laughs). I'm always somewhat conscious of the possibility of "making a scene," so for example, when I take a photo of a man, I often try to include a woman in it, or I often include elements that might be picked up by a sports newspaper, and people want to see that. Of course, that's not why I take photos, but when it's okay to do so, I try to do that kind of thing.

Works exhibited at the Doraemon exhibition held in Hong Kong

"Hoodie with a fourth-dimensional pocket"

Eguchi rika

Q. I feel like my range of expression has broadened since I gave birth to a child, but did you feel the same way?

They often say that "becoming a mother makes you more refined," but I personally found it terrifying to lose my edge in that way. But my son is so adorable, and when we take naps together in the sunshine, even someone like me would find it nice to continue this kind of life for the rest of my life, and for a moment my desire to create would disappear, and that was scary. People around me mean well and say things like, "Your face looks gentler," but from my perspective I'm like, "What are you talking about?" (laughs). So, if anything, my work has taken a more radical direction, and it's become sharper since giving birth. It's a simple thing: people expect something sacred from me just because I'm a mother, and it annoys me (laughs).

"Clothes for 10 people" / Eguchi Rika

Q. For example, if you were asked to create a work like the one you created before you had children, would you be able to do it?

Ninagawa: I think it's possible to make it.

But I just can't get passionate about it. It's like a forced end to something, and in that sense, giving birth to a child is an amazing experience. Before, I was really passionate about taking pictures of vibrant flowers and other beautiful things that everyone would like, and I really thought it was wonderful, but now I have to change things up a bit, like taking pictures with my cell phone, or I can't enjoy it anymore. Of course, I do my best when I'm asked to do it for work, but when it comes to taking pictures for personal use, I've moved away from beautiful flowers and the like.

Q. I still have a lot of worries about things like disciplining my children, but do you ever worry about raising your children or their future?

Ninagawa: Hmm, they're doing it in a pretty fun and interesting way (laughs). She's been raised with love from everyone, including the staff, so I'm not too worried. Both my parents also worked, and my mother was worried that she wasn't able to spend time with me when I was little, but I only have memories of being loved. I think that if you have memories of being loved overwhelmingly, you will develop the strength to affirm yourself. To achieve this, it's important that the people close to you continue to affirm you, so I tell them I love you every day (laughs).

"noir" (2010) / Mika Ninagawa

Q. Finally, please tell us about your future goals and the kind of grandmother you would like to be.

Even as a grandmother, I want to be treated like a real woman. Of course, I take photos, and I've already decided to become a really cool grandmother (laughs). On a more immediate note, this year I'm trying not to limit myself. Up until now, I was very particular about being a photographer. I thought it was rude to invade other fields without permission, which is why I've been working very seriously on film, with the attitude of "I'm in a different industry, but please help me out." But recently, I've been thinking there's no need to limit myself, and I'm just going to try anything I want to try. I want to keep moving forward, but I'm wondering what to do about children. I've finally come back and am enjoying the present, but when I think about another three years, I start to hesitate (laughs). I generally do what I say I will, but this is one thing I worry about.

Title: Es / エス

Developer/Publisher: Sega / Four-Some / Dentsu / TV Asahi

Release date: 5 April 2001

Catalogue No.: T-45501M

Genre: Psycho Suspense Adventure

Sort of a Sherlock Holmes type game, all based around the Japanese TV drama of the same name. The game is full of FMV featuring the original cast of the TV drama (in fact, this game coincides with the drama). Unless you can understand Japanese, I'd stay clear of this 3 GDROM adventure.