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Ctrl Shift + J . Sayuri Ichida

€85.00

The M editions

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I constantly wonder where I belong. This series explores the psychological impact of migration and uprooting that have marked my life. The title is inspired by the keyboard shortcut I use to write in Japanese, an indirect reference to my origins.

The series draws on my personal history, that of a family displaced when I started primary school. Transferred to Niigata Prefecture, more than 1,000 km from our hometown, my father took us far from the big city to a rural village. Our strong accent from Kyushu, in the south of Japan, marked us out as foreigners. It was difficult for all of us to adapt. These successive moves during my childhood made it impossible for me to put down roots anywhere, creating a persistent dissonance with any territory. This fracture and the resulting quest for belonging became central to my identity.

A few years ago, a DNA test revealed an unexpected British ancestry. This discovery led me, as if by chance, to the homeland of my enigmatic great-great-grandfather. In this unexpected connection, I find an echo of his experience as a stranger in a strange land, mirroring my own exile in the United Kingdom.

This series brings together a multitude of subjects: fragments of architecture, my grandfather's old passport photo, faces of unknown relatives in the family album... Incoherent geometric shapes emerge in the images to amplify this feeling of not belonging, disturbing the viewer with their strangeness.

With Ctrl Shift + J, I invite the viewer to introspect, to confront their own experiences of displacement and the search for a place to be themselves.

Ctrl Shift + J . Sayuri Ichida

Limited edition of 500 copies and 10 numbered and signed deluxe copies presented in a metal box and accompanied by a unique work of art.
A co-publication by the(M) éditions and IBASHO
Photographs and text: Sayuri Ichida
Design: Tomasz Laczny
17×21cm
50-page Leporello
Publication: October 2025
ISBN: 979-10-95424-57-4

3 Items
2026-01-13

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