The development of our series On the Way began during a family trip to Japan in December 2015. Carrying a small camera borrowed from Yumiko, I would take day trips via train to Tokyo and Yokohama and became fascinated by the visual beauty, the stunning architecture, spotless subways, mountainous landscape, and the fashion of everyday people. During the evenings, on the way back to Yumiko’s parents’ home, I would print out the images and thread them into narratives to share with family. Upon returning to Chicago, I developed these stories as the base of more formal photo-narrative books with a haiku-inspired text. This was the organic impetus for the On the Way series.

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Upon completing the book series with my wonderful team at Digital Tapestries, we began creating film montages based on the books to provide an aesthetically multidimensional experience for our audience. On the Way is a short film trilogy. In post-election times, the film series aims to provide viewers with reflective visual and poetic meditations upon the diverse and interconnected qualities of urban life. We have included originally scored music with the voice of Chicago blues and jazz musician Yoko Noge, whose soulful vocals and creative vision for lyrical interpretation enhanced the message transcending the text.