MITSUI Masashi

I rent a motorcycle locally riding from town to town without a fixed destination or even a map. There is no telling where I will go next. With minimum preparation, I let myself be guided by chance, and I really enjoy the encounters that result from it. So far, I have visited thirty nine countries, mostly in Asia.　I have been to India alone seven times, exploring all corners of the country. To date, I have ridden well over 100,000 kilometers (62,000 miles).
During the course of these travels, I have been most drawn to working people such as farmers, fishermen, blacksmiths and brick factory workers. Their kind of work does not require the special skills needed by a traditional craftsman. Instead, it is work that is mostly simple and physical, and often taken for granted. But I find these people beautiful. Working in the sweat of their brow, they have a fundamental human vitality—as though telling us that people have different roles in life, and that the essential meaning of “work” is to engage in those roles and carry them out with sincere good will.
In India, where social norms are traditionally based on kinship and village communities, children used to inherit the occupations of their parents. However, with rapid economic growth and globalization, this way of life is undergoing major transformations. Occupations once in demand are no longer needed, while new jobs are being created one after the other. For example, one of the dye factories I photographed in 2016 has since ceased operation and all its employees have been dismissed. It was a complete ruin when I revisited it the following year.
One by one, the workers whose occupations have been handed down through generations are losing their roles in society. It is an accelerating trend that no one can alter. There is no guarantee that a currently existent job will be around in ten years. Here is all the more reason for me to photograph these working people.
In the not-so-distant future, we will forget that such jobs even existed. Before that happens, I want to foster awareness of these workers, to document in my photographs their labor and sweat, the earnest look in their eyes, as well as the grace of their bodies. I also hope to make the public more appreciative that work which is often overlooked because of its humdrum character makes an essential contribution to the world, without which it would not exist as it does. Bringing it to the fore is what I consider my role as a photographer to be.