China, 2007
Okahara traveled hidden ex-leprosy colonies in China with his friend, a researcher, Takeshi Nishio to witness the death of a disease. One of the villages was located the other side of a river which takes only 10 minutes to cross. it felt them strange to know that the villagers had not crossed it for decades.
“Title calligraphy drawn by Misato Ichino” Vanishing existence has 3 different forms of artist books in order to express the history (context) of the disease. One is a stab binding book, another one is 10m scroll book, and the last one is 100x70cm gigantic stab binding book.