A love story through the lens of photography.

More than two years have passed since I first met her. The first movie we watched together was "Harakiri." A year ago, we got married. I started photographing her from the day we met. In her, I see the image of the woman before me – a model, sometimes of the woman I love, sometimes of the woman who belongs to me. A woman who means so much to me, I feel it is my duty to continue photographing her. If we consider photography, in a sense, as the preservation of space and time, then this work – the work of documenting a person's life – is particularly moving. When I face her, when I photograph her, and when I see her in the photographs, I also see and discover myself.

(Seiichi Furuya, Graz, 1980)

Part 1: Mémoires - Memories

Portrait of Christine Furuya-Gössler in 1979

In 1973, photographer Seiichi Furuya left his native Japan for Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railway. His life and work were completely turned upside down when he met Christine Gössler, an art history student in Graz, Austria, in 1978. After only a few months of dating, they married and had a son named Komyo.

Initially, Seiichi Furuya's photographs focused primarily on everyday life in Eastern European cities, but after meeting Christine, he became passionate about photographing his wife's portraits, either alone or with Komyo. With his camera, Seiichi documented their free-spirited life in Europe during the Iron Curtain era: travel, cigarettes, apartments that seemed to possess a timeless beauty... In 1984, the whole family moved to Dresden, later settling in East Berlin. At that time, photography was not yet Seiichi's main profession; he worked as an interpreter to make a living. Eventually, he founded an art magazine – theAustrian CameraMeanwhile, Christine was drawn to a career in theater.

During their seven years together, Christine struggled with depression and was admitted to psychiatric institutions several times. On October 7, 1985, the 36th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic, Christine—then diagnosed with schizophrenia—committed suicide by jumping from the ninth-floor window of their apartment in East Berlin.

Seiichi Furuya is haunted by a past devoid of affection. His younger brother suffers from a permanent mental illness resulting from a childhood fever and requires lifelong treatment. Seiichi was also once trapped under a car in an accident caused by his drunk father.

Christine also went through a difficult emotional time. Her previous fiancé broke off the engagement, and she fell into such severe depression that she contemplated suicide. There were times when, in an attempt to escape her suffering, she tried to cut her wrists and throat. She didn't tell Seiichi the reasons behind these actions until many years later, after they had been together.

Two sensitive souls find each other, they lift each other up and build a new life. Almost immediately, Christine becomes Seiichi's photographic subject; his eyes are fixed on her, and she is the one.Iyour.

Sometime around midday on October 7th, Christine, who was supposed to be preparing lunch, disappeared. The parade commemorating the 36th anniversary of the founding of East Germany was being broadcast, and I was keeping an eye on Komyo and taking pictures of him when I had a bad feeling. I hurried down the hallway to the bedroom but couldn't find her. The apartment door was half-open.

Running out of my fourth-floor apartment, I immediately headed up to the ninth floor. Just as I reached the top of the stairs, I heard a sound.meatIt sounded like a bag of cement being dropped on the ground.

It was impossible to access the ninth floor from the outside, but there was a connecting passageway for people to move between the neighboring residential areas. Once, she muttered to herself, perhaps also a signal for help in a moment of crisis, "If I jump from here, I'll surely die, won't I?" I couldn't stop myself from remembering that moment, remembering the sound I had just heard, when I saw the rubber sandals neatly arranged under the open window.

"Ko-chan. Mom passed away."

"Did Dad kill Mom?"

"YES."

There's no way to know if Komyo remembers that conversation. To this day, I still regret saying, "I killed her."

(Christine Furuya-Gössler Memoires, 1978-1985)

Throughout their five years together, Seiichi frequently photographed his wife, although describing Christine as his muse might not be accurate. Seiichi's photographs are quite ordinary, simply capturing moments of the day, much like our inseparable relationship with the media in modern society. But decades later, his late wife remains the central subject of the photographer's work. After Christine's death, from 1989 to 2010, Seiichi published a series of books titled...Mémoires(Memories), consists of five photo books containing portraits of her and of their relationship during their short time together.

Part 2:Face to FaceButTogether

Thirty-five years after her death, Seiichi Furuya placed photographs of himself and his wife side by side.

In 2018, Seiichi Furuya found several photos of himself, taken by Christine Gössler with a 35mm compact camera, capturing moments he had previously photographed for her. Some photos—taken in their home, during their time in Germany, Japan, Italy, or Austria—looked almost like the two of them were mimicking each other, while others formed a pose.someWhen placed side by side, they reveal a strange connection, even in the most ordinary moments of life.

In 2020, Seiichi Furuya released a photo book.Face to Face(Together), consists of 150 pairs of photos of the two taken during their seven years together, from the day they first met until Christine's death. Seiichi considers this new project as his final act, putting an end to his previous work.Mémoires, the work of a lifetime.Face to FacePublished by Chose Commune, a privately owned French publisher based in Marseille.

Face to FaceThe presentation is simple: when you open two pages of the book, you see her first, then you see him. Sometimes they appear against the same backdrop: a blue sofa, a plastered wall in the house, with a potted plant in front of them... Sometimes they are naked. Sometimes someone else appears beside them. Sometimes the photo is only in black and white. Most of the time, the two of them pose for just a moment, like a fleeting glimpse in life.

The book is arranged so that Christine's photos mainly appear on the left-hand page, opposite her husband's on the right-hand page. There are also times when the photos don't follow that pattern, such as the one where they are sitting against the light, with shadows obscuring the features of their faces.

The photographs Seiichi took of Christine reveal his pride, affection, desires, and perhaps even possessiveness. If Christine's photographs of Seiichi are also works of art, for her, they are more like an intimate game, a way of showing that she sees him, as clearly as he sees her. They are a message, sent even after decades, that she remembers him.

An