Tokyo-based Kisara Okada was passing through the business district, Marunouchi, on her way to an osteopathy session last month, when the extended neck of a construction crane caught her eye. “In the Meiji era, when the area was developed from grassland, the model was the streets of London,” Okada says. “You can still find high-rise buildings that preserve traces of that history. Today, the area is undergoing redevelopment, so I wanted to show part of that process.”
Okada defines the theme of her street images as “sites of miracles that the city has overlooked”. Editing on this shot was minimal. “I don’t want to create painterly beauty; rather, share the small wonders that exist alongside our everyday lives,” she says.
It was the first day back after the summer holiday break and the heat was intense, so there was nobody sitting on the benches along the street, but she spotted one lone worker. “Their work is tough – they must continue no matter the weather, but I think he was almost at the end of his shift.”
Reflecting on her photo now, she adds, “I love how you can discover many layers in a single frame, and how nature and manmade come together.”
