MOLE UNIT No.5 Silent Mode

A collection of works featuring one of Masato Seto's representative works, "Silent Mode." Published as the fifth volume in the Mole Unit series.

The title "Silent Mode" is derived from the silent shooting function installed in the Konica HEXAR. This function allows photographs to be taken with almost no sound when the shutter button is pressed, and by holding down the button, the film winding sound can also be delayed. Seto utilized this unique function to photograph passengers up close inside commuter trains.

Many of the subjects were unaware they were being photographed, and as a result, the pictures convey the un-staged presence of individuals. These portraits, taken in the highly anonymous space of a train car, reflect the loneliness and tension of city dwellers while also conveying a warm gaze towards human existence itself. The emotions and stories hidden within their expressionless faces quietly stimulate the viewer's imagination.

This series is known as one of Masato Seto's important works, alongside "Bangkok/Hanoi" and "Living Room, Tokyo." It is one of the representative photographic collections of 1990s Japanese photography that keenly observed the relationship between the city and the individual.

[Title] MOLE UNIT No.5 Silent Mode
[Publisher] Mole
[Publication Date] 1996
[Pages] 28 pages
[Size] Approx. 223*294*3mm
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] Silent Mode
[Author/Editor, etc.] Masato Seto / Author, Keiko Oikawa / Design
[Printing] Tokyo Photo Printing Co. / Printing and Binding
[ISBN] -
[Condition] Used [7] Good (Slight crease on corner)
[Accessories] None
[Featured In] -
[Related Exhibitions] -

Masato Seto (1953-)

Born in Udon Thani, Kingdom of Thailand. Photographer.

Born to a Vietnamese-Thai mother and a Japanese father, he came to Japan in 1961. After graduating from Tokyo College of Photography (now Visual Arts Tokyo), he studied under Daido Moriyama at his photography workshop and then under Masahisa Fukase. He became independent in 1981.

He received the Photographic Society of Japan Newcomer's Award for "Bangkok/Hanoi," which traced his roots. He received the 21st Kimura Ihei Award for "Silent Mode" and "Living Room, Tokyo." Since 1987, he has operated Place M, and in parallel with his activities as a photographer, he has also dedicated himself to nurturing young talent.

Representative works include "Bangkok/Hanoi," "Silent Mode," "Living Room, Tokyo," "binran," "picnic," and "Cesium."

Major awards include the Photographic Society of Japan Newcomer's Award (1987) and the Kimura Ihei Award (1995).

Major collections include the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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Masahisa Fukase, Nobuyoshi Araki,Daido Moriyama, Keizo Kitajima, Hiroo Kikai