‘Years may wrinkle skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul’.
After the death of his father, the US-based director and photographer Alex Lockett travelled to Okinawa, an island region in the far south of Japan known for the longevity of its residents. There, he met an 87-year-old man named Shimei Nakaoji, whose life is imbued with routines to help him remain as mentally and physically sharp as possible. For Nakaoji, who has cancer, this includes a strict running regimen, which he views as more than just a way to stay active. It’s a manifestation of his ‘proactive’ approach to life, through which he imagines a hopeful future and then acts in the present to move towards it. Capturing his subject with a photographer’s eye for framing, texture and expression, Lockett captures how Nakaoji has been sustained and nourished by a life philosophy centred on intention and action.
