Tokyo Super Deep Excavation Pit ERIC Publisher: Zen Foto Gallery Winner of the 48th (2023) Ina Nobuo Award 200 x 200mm 120 pages English/Japanese This is ERIC's second photobook with Zen Foto. ERIC, originally from Hong Kong, has been based in Japan since 1997. Seven years ago, he moved his base of life from Tokyo to Okayama, which provided him with an opportunity to re-examine his life up to that point and the city of Tokyo. "Tokyo Super Deep Excavation Pit" is a collection of vivid snapshots taken by ERIC as he roamed freely through Tokyo during the COVID-19 pandemic. "A camera only skims the surface of things. However, depending on how the photographer captures them, the captured surface can either become a wall that hides what lies beneath, or conversely, a gate to it. Passing through that gate, one can sink as far as they wish. The surfaces of people and the scenes they create are manifestations of collective illusions that change with the times. The past ones sink layer by layer beneath the surface, far into the underground. Roots, so to speak, extend from the things on the surface, piercing those layers and continuing deep, deep down. Through these photographs, I feel I have glimpsed the 'roots' of the Japanese people. I don't know how clearly or how deeply I have captured them. Answers are not easily obtained. That much is certain."