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Sachie Abiko

    The garden cats

    A house in Japan is always open towards the outside. The garden is part of the interior of the house through the play of window openings and layout of rooms. This observation reflects the work of photographer Sachie Abiko in her proposal submitted for Neko Project.

    We are at her parents’ house in a suburb of Tokyo on a stray cats street. The garden is abundant and beautiful. The colour green is omnipresent. The mother of the family has the green hand and cats are welcome.

    There are cats from inside and cats from outside. In particular, the white cat (AFU, named by the mother) climbs everywhere and settles in the daily life of this family even if the outside cats are not supposed to be not part of it.

    When the cat of the house wants to go out, cats from outside climb on the window like circus acrobats to enter and get some foods. They take advantage of the father’s gardening session to get scratched or are just wondering if they would not want to be house cats rather than street cats.

    The poetry of the photographer makes all the humanity of these exchanges and the fragility of this relation of trust established between this family and the cats of the district, between the cats of the house and the cats of outside. Sweet and melancholy photography magnifies cats in their singularity.

    All pictures and the book can be seen at : www.abicosta.com

    © Sachie Abiko