goldengod

PingMag is hosting an excellent interview with photographer Bruce Osborn about his Oyako series of photos. The project is simple, but Bruce has been pursuing it for twenty-five years.

Bruce takes photos of a Japanese parent with one of their children in a plain white studio setting. He conveys a full range of emotion between the parent and the child using their expressions, body language, and outfits. He will use this to portray differences or similarities in job, lifestyle, or looks.

The project focuses on the generation gap between the two individuals or in some cases, the lack of one. He brings out opposites by putting a calm, middle-aged mother next to her mohawked son. That’s a pretty easy decision for a mildly interesting photo. Bruce goes one step further and allows each photo to project the love and care of this family.

I’ve browsed through a few dozen of these photographs now, some in the PingMag interview and some on the official Oyako site. Every single one of them shows two people who love and care about each other. This can be despite or because of their lifestyle differences. Mixed in are photos where there is no lifestyle difference; the son who has chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps as a sushi chef.

Not every photo is perfect; the pet-shop owning father posing with his nude porn-star daughter does come across as a bit creepy. Strange little quirks like that give depth to this series because they don’t shy away from the seedier side of life when dealing with family. When I hear about someone disowning their child over something trivial like religion or sexual preference, I want to send them a booklet of these photographs.