At the beginning of the year, I acquired a tripod that allowed me to explore long exposures and night photography, which became a natural language for the darker, more surreal moods of the project. I’d walk/drive around LA late at night and set up my tripod aimed at an interesting source of light, wait for a few seconds of exposure, and then break it all down to move to the next place of interest. The overall process was much slower than what I was used to but it made each frame and composition more intentional. While in Hawai’i to visit family, I noticed how much the island had changed with each time. I wanted to capture as much as I could before it’d become something unrecognizable. As if an attempt to bring back some kind of tangible token from a dream.
"I could tell all the windows were closed shut based on the slight pressure in my ears. Air still cold from the AC that’s now idle. Tracing the familiar white wall of our old condo, I walked towards to what I remembered was my parent’s room. I turn the corner, an unfamiliar hallway stretched before me, descending toward a room that was hidden from view. Beyond it, what looked like ambient sunlight poured through, softly illuminating the wall’s imperfections. A slight hum of cars passing on the freeway nearby could be heard.“
— Excerpt from the Lunalilo dream (Jul. 23, 2024)
Around the same time, I had rewatched Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams. A series of short films based on dreams in no relation with each other. Before each film, a title card preceded it, a black frame with a quote in brush calligraphy that read 「こんな夢を見た」 (I had this dream). This simple quote had a profound effect on me and I decided to create my own using a brush pen which ultimately became the title art for the photozine. The repetitive process was almost meditative while trying to find the script’s rhythm, weight, and composition.