Charles freger

Charles Freger - Wilder Mann (2010) - A series exploring human fascination with myth, ritual and tradition

Charles Fréger: Namahage Ashizawa, Oga, Akita Prefecture (via It's Nice That)

In 2013, just after finishing his European tour of winter masquerades (Wilder Mann), Charles Fréger began a photography project exploring Japan’s masked ritual figures. Photographing sumo wrestlers (Rikishi, 2002-2003) had already made him familiar with the country, but he knew nothing about rural areas. That is the topic of Yokainoshima: through an inventory of masked

For two years in 2010 and 2011, Charles Fréger criss-crossed Europe from north to south, from Finland to Portugal, passing through Romania, Germany and Slovenia, in search of the figure of the savage as it survives in local popular traditions. These images, like archetypes, half-man half-beast, animal or vegetable, resurface from the depths of time

In 2013, just after finishing his European tour of winter masquerades (Wilder Mann), Charles Fréger began a photography project exploring Japan’s masked ritual figures. Photographing sumo wrestlers (Rikishi, 2002-2003) had already made him familiar with the country, but he knew nothing about rural areas. That is the topic of Yokainoshima: through an inventory of masked

Charles Freger - Wilder Mann (2010) - A series exploring human fascination with myth, ritual and tradition