Artist Statement

“The five lakes tourist region at the base of Japan’s Mount Fuji is a beautiful, quirky and often surreal place. Filled with amusement parks, themed eateries, stunning vistas, novelty boat-filled lakes. And, in the middle of all this, sits the forest of Aokigahara -- dark and foreboding, it is the world’s leading suicide destination. Cluttered with discarded clothing, lengths of rope and knife packaging that lie amongst the miles of coloured tape that guide recovery teams to the remains, the forest normally has an annual yield in the region of sixty to seventy victims. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis last year’s figure was approaching three hundred.” Toby de Silva

Artist Bio

Toby de Silva (b. England, 1972) studied photography at the Falmouth School of Art before working in various capacities as both photographer and printer.

Realizing upon entering his thirties that creativity and personal expression was being slowly eroded from his work, he re-focused by studying on the MA in Photographic studies at the University of Westminster.

Now a few years on he is based in China and travels extensively to document the bizarre, the macabre, the sublime, the hideous and the humorous.

For further information please see http://www.tobydesilva.com/