Eric Pelletier has a particular profile in Neko Project. A few years ago, Eric decided to relocate from Montreal, Canada to Japan. He discovered a country filled with many crafts. He learnt a few of the local skills, like Kirie and Moku hanga. After in 8 years in Tokyo, called a photographer’s paradise, photography becomes one of his favourite way of express his vision of the world. He is wellknown for his illustrations of Tokyo but for Neko project he proposes us a series of cat portraits.
Eric Pelletier describes his project: “Stray cat in Tokyo, can sometime gain the status of idols. For a selfie or a portrait, they get in return food and love, even a few get a regular fan visit, who comes and grooms them for hours. People trade their picture and know them by name. What a wonderful life it is to be worshiped.”
Eric Pelletier walks around Tokyo, taking portraits of stray cats. Sometimes he sees them again a year after, most of the time he doesn’t. He wishes to show the harshness of stray cats lives, to remind people, who might see their own cat in Eric’s picture that they have to care for them.
Eric Pelletier explains this harshness: “For every good visit, stray cats also get a bad visit: Pranksters, bad weathers and the evil winter. People say that the life of a homeless cat in Tokyo is 3 years.”
www.flickr.com/groups/stray_cats_japan/pool/
© Eric Pelletier
