Long-haul trucks covered in elaborate, eye-popping neon lights and colorful airbrushed murals of fantasy creatures and religious figures are known as “decotora” in Japan. Decotora trucks initially cropped up all over the nation after a film called Torakku Yaro (that means “Truck guy”) featuring such vehicles became a huge hit in the late 1970s. You don’t see them that much anymore, but a small decotora subculture still exists.
Photographer Masaru Tatsuki was so awestruck when he saw a decotora for the first time that he ended up photographing the trucks for over 10 years. His photo book, Decotora (published by Little More), came out in Japan last summer. The book isn’t out in the US, but you can look at some of the photos nice and big here, which is lucky for you because they’re pretty and they make your eyes goggle with coolness.
Masaru Tatsuki is having a solo exhibition this summer at Tai Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico (www.taigallery.com).
“When I first started photographing decotora, I only focused on the superficial characteristics of the trucks. Over time I realized that I needed to shoot the people who create and drive the trucks as well as the vehicles themselves. I mean, the decotora wouldn’t exist without their drivers. In other words, this series wouldn’t work unless I touched upon the decotora truckers’ way of life.”
“After a few years, the decotora trucks were no longer single entities in my mind. The truck and the driver go together—they’re inseparable. I wanted to show fragments of these trucker’s lives in my decotora series, rather than merely create archival photos of the trucks.”
“If a trucker who lived really far away said, ‘You should come over to my house some time,’ I would say, ‘Sure, of course!’ and actually go. The confrontation between subject and photographer has already begun at that point, and I’m basically being tested, so I have to answer to that because it might lead to a deeper relationship. Once I get along with them on their turf, then I can also bring them back to my own turf. For example, in this photo, I asked them to drive all the way out to the city center for the shoot, which they would never go to otherwise. Once you establish this sort of reciprocal relationship, then they will be willing to get more involved.”
“The decotora have a spectacular visual impact, but the people who drive them are no different from other truckers. It’s tough work driving a truck. In fact, I think it’s one of the harshest working environments I’ve ever seen. But the truckers live strong, and I think that their pride and masculinity really show through the glitz of the decotora.”
“After visiting their hometowns, I saw that these glamorous decotora function as normal trucks during the daytime. And when they’re not out on the road, they sit in the garage like any old car. The drivers aren’t always obsessing over their trucks or trying to show off every time they drive out. That’s why I needed to show the trucks in a casual light, rather than just images of them gliding through the night with their lights on full blast.”
“My project is finished. I think that releasing a photo book has affected the truckers’ attitude toward me and our relationship overall. They assume that I always want to take photos of them. That’s not really a healthy relationship between a photographer and a subject, because it’s no longer a face-to-face confrontation. And if that’s the case, I don’t need to shoot them anymore.”
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