Counterpoint | Kazuhei Kimura | Aka Aka 2025

"I had experienced certain symptoms since early childhood. Sensations that were essential to constituting who I am, yet which I felt were not worth sharing with others. 

...

I learned that Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a condition where, despite no abnormalities in vision, objects appear a different size than they actually are, and that it manifests various other symptoms such as abnormalities in color perception and time perception. True to its name, it was named after Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and it seems that Carroll himself, as well as Ryunosuke Akutagawa, also experienced similar symptoms. I felt both relief and disappointment that someone else had experienced the sensations I thought were unique to me, but above all, I was happy that these experiences finally had a name. Reflexively, I wanted to create work about Alice Syndrome.

...

August 31, 2025 - Note added

It has been ten years since I began the idea of "creating a work about Alice in Wonderland Syndrome," and three years since I started presenting it in exhibitions. I have continued thinking about a single series, facing my body at each moment and incorporating new elements, and in a way, I have held five exhibitions presenting a sort of unfinished mass. At first, I chose to present only in exhibitions, thinking, "I do not feel like I can make this into a book," but through continued creation, the concept of a book gradually emerged, and I am pleased to be able to give it form in this way.

Since the beginning of the presentation of "counterpoint", there have been a few occasions when people have said things like, "You are sublimating pain and hardship into your work." Each time, I have asked myself whether that is really true, assuming the freedom of interpretation. Have I ever truly suffered, even once? In 2022, I spoke of the symptoms as fairies. I did not wish for them to disappear; rather, I wanted to build a good relationship with them.

This work is not meant to raise awareness of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, nor to appeal to society about its difficulties. And now, the main purpose is no longer to reproduce the symptoms in photographs. Starting from a precious, yet standard experience for me, which bears the very conspicuous name "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome," I create the landscapes I want to see and photograph them. I arrange them under a few rules in a white room (or in a book) and allow people to enter the space. Beyond the judgment of "understood" or "not understood," they can enjoy seeing and the enigma itself, and contemplate the differences in human perception. Perhaps this is what the work is about.

The production as "counterpoint" will probably reach a conclusion here. Yet from now on, I will likely be unable to imagine anything without the experience of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. This is because that state is my standard. Even if the symptoms no longer fully appear, I wish to continue facing the concerns in front of me, wrapped in this reliable enchantment." - Extracts from Kazuhei Kimura's afterword