Japanese artist Haruhiko Kawaguchi, also known as Photographer Hal, is famous for his vacuum-sealed couples in intimate spaces as a form of art. His art presents pairs of people tightly wrapped in a thin layer of plastic, and photographed in an extreme, controlled, and ephemeral moment.
But Photographer Hal is stepping up his game! He is now extending the couples into families plus the things they value such as their cars and houses. This means that the whole landscape is vacuum-packed, which signifies that “everything in the world is one existence.”
Is it safe? Yes, with reservations. Photographer Hal’s carefully-controlled portraits allow him a strict shooting time of 10 seconds before the situation could become harmful. In fact, the couples volunteer themselves for the project because they want to convey the artist’s vision and photographic philosophy which is love.
‘the shooting location is the most important place for them,’ the artist continues. ‘the things you love will be one, and the world will be one. I think that is an ideal form of love…we should spread the sense of love outward, and spread the link of love more and more across various communities.’
Photo of Yamada Family by Nina Azzarello in Design Boom