Mami Kiyoshi
 
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Gotō Hikaru and Fukushima Yukie, in their workshop, the Tako-hachi
(Shizuoka city, Shizuoka prefecture, 2018)

Gotō Hikaru on the right and her mother, Yukie, on the left are the 5th generation to work at the Tako Hachi workshop. The kites, model books and shita-e (sketches), which are in the foreground, were made by Tatsusaburō, the 3rd generation of the workshop. These kites, models and sketches are the basis of their life, but they did not choose to become kite makers because they love this object, rather, they did it to perpetuate the family legacy. In the photograph, they both look up and out the frame, toward their lives and aspirations outside the kite world.

The photograph was taken in the room where Yukie works. It's a room upstairs in her house. Hikaru works in another space, in her own house. The decoration of this room with a pink wall and flowery curtains contrasts with the decor of the other workshops presented in this series of photographs and with the decorations of the kites they make. Their specialty is the Suruga kite, which features the faces of warriors and kabuki actors. Hikaru is a little bit otaku. She loves cosplay and she is a fan of Spike, a character of the manga Cowboy Bebop. Indeed, she made several articulated dolls representing him. She carries one of them near her heart. In her right hand, Hikaru holds a brush, because it is she who applies the color for the kite paintings. She wears a kimono that symbolizes her character close to the bushido spirit and her taste for cosplay. Her mother, who is a very discreet person, and who deals with the ink for the drawings, is dressed in several shades of gray.

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