酒井敦展写真百物語 蛇喰（じゃばみ）の巻
9月18日～10月5日
September 18 (Wed) – October 5 (Sat) Atsushi Sakai photo exhibition.
幼い頃、僕の生まれた小さな町にがまの油売りがやってきた。大きな手提げカバンを開けると、その中には数えきれないほどの蛇が入っていた。男はその一匹をわしづかみにすると自らの腕を噛ませた。血がだらだらとひたたり落ちた。そしてそこへ、がまの油をちょいちょいと塗ると、たちどころに血は止まった。その後、僕は無数の蛇に取り囲まれる夢にうなされ続けた。
「写真百物語」は怪談を元にした物語を文と写真で描いたものだ。蛇を喰らう、蛇喰（じゃばみ）。ときには大きな本物のニシキヘビも登場してもらった。蛇は今でも怖い。でもこの物語に出てくる美女はときには蛇よりも怖く、そして哀しい。
When I was a child, a traveling toad oil salesman came to the town where I was born. He opened up his large trunk to reveal a great number of snakes. He snatched up a single snake from the trunk and let it bite his arm. The blood ran down his arm, dripping onto the ground. At that point, the salesman applied a dab of toad oil to his arm, which stopped the blood flowing from his wound almost instantly. For some time after that, I was plagued by dreams in which I was surrounded by an untold number of snakes.
‘Shashin Hyakumonogatari’ are tales told in words and photographs which are inspired by the Japanese ghost stories of yore. The Japanese word ‘jabami’ literally means ‘to eat a snake.’ I brought in a real python for this work. I am still frightened by snakes to this day, but the beautiful woman who appears in the story is at times more frightening than the snake, though she is also sad.