１９８５年夏、少ない資料から女性画家を探し出して作ったリストを携えて、ヨーロッパの美術館を二人で訪ね歩き、その作品を見て存在を確認して きた。レストランで同席したスペインから来た夫婦に「あなたたちはいつから友達？」と聞かれて、「２５年前から」と答えたら、「え、じゃ５歳のときか ら？」と驚かれてしまった。それももう２０年前。
私が生活の中で、経験し、考え、発見したことを彼女に伝える。微細なことほど貴重で、一見くだらないことほど、面白い発見だったりする。長い年月、ぶれることのない同じ相手に自分を伝えられることは、人生において、どれほど幸運なことであるか、はかり知れない。
撮影は、ホテルのローリーの部屋から始まり、公園のあちこちで続けられた。だんだんと３人の歩くペースがゆっくりとなり、おしゃべりも短いフ レーズになってくる。私は木に登ってみた。私の前には彼女がいるが、彼女の顔は見えない。二人の視線の先は、ローリーの持つカメラだ。ローリーが見上げて いる。
萩原弘子
そんな２人がそろってエディソンの被写体になり、さまざまなロケーションで100枚近くが撮影された。１年後、エディソンが選んだ1枚を、まず私だけが見る機会があった。どの１枚になるか、予測する根拠もなければ勘も働かなかった私は、ただ「これなのか」と思った。
まだ見ていない彼女に電話して、どのショットが選ばれたと思うかと尋ねると、「公園の松の枝で撮った1枚でしょ」とあっさり答えが返ってきた。 私には見えないものが見えるのは、10代の頃から、私より40センチ高い視点で遠くを見晴るかしてきたからなのか、それともその後の40年の人生の違いな のかは、なんともわからない。
エディソンの１枚には、長年の友人関係に加えて、そんな違いまでも写っているのが驚きである。
In summer of 1985 we traveled Europe together. We visited art galleries to see works produced by women artists whom we had listed based on our joint research.
Somewhere in Eastern Europe we became acquainted with a couple from Spain and had a meal with them. When we said we had been friends for twenty-five years, the combination of the length of time and our Asian faces seemed to cause them some confusion. The couple quizzically asked us if we met at the age of five. Twenty years have passed since the tour to Europe.
I tell her what I see, think and find out in my everyday life. Minute or even trivial discoveries are sometimes interesting and valuable. I appreciate the fact that I can talk about such small but precious experiences of mine, to the same person who has listened to me for decades.
Laurie’s shooting session started from her hotel room. We went out to the park and stopped at several points for Laurie to take pictures. Our walking pace slowed down and the phrases we exchanged became shorter. I climbed up a pine tree. My friend was on the ground below me. I just saw her back. We both looked at Laurie’s camera. Laurie was looking up at me.
HAGIWARA Hiroko
When I met her at the age of twelve, she was taller than me by over forty centimeters. I thought the world must be seen rather differently from forty centimeters higher. Thereafter, the height difference became a bit smaller. But our lives have followed different paths for over forty years since then, which have produced enormous differences.
We posed for Edison together to be photographed. Approximately one hundred pictures were taken. A year later Edison showed me the shot which she had selected and I accepted it as a matter of fact.
I called her and asked to guess which shot had been selected. She answered without delay, ‘It should be the one with us and the pine tree in the park.’ She can see what I cannot see. Is it because she has seen the world from a higher point of view or is it because our lives have been different? Can this question be answered?
It is remarkable that Edison chose the photograph that represents such differences between us besides our decades-long friendship.