Tofu-Knife explores the plasticity of digital photography, Japanese photography culture, and, contemporary expressions. In its form and design, the photobook mimics both a scientific database – all photographs are clearly listed in the index and catalogued by numbers – and a customer magazine – the photographs are clean and polished, printed on a thin, glossy paper usually used in the advertising context. The depicted objects and environments are above all visually pleasing – lush vegetation, subtle textures, neat interiors, and alluring objects whose only decipherable function is the aesthetic one.

Kawatani consistently uses fill flash to photograph the object, aiming to blur the line between reality and imitation. He shares, “I was intrigued by the idea of shooting a common object to make it look as if it was a fake. I show in this book the real thing that looks fake and things that were made to imitate something in the same way.”

Tofu-Knife was awarded the First prize of the Kassel Dummy Award 2020 and the Charlotte Cotton (Curator,Editor) prize of the JAPAN PHOTO AWARD 2019