Japanese society was struggling with its own demons of the age and I believe [Francisco Goya’s Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters] etchings’ warning served as a stark reminder to us all.

The phantasms depicted in Los Caprichos, Los Proverbios and Los Desastres De La Guerra have been scurrying through my mind ever since.

They spoke to me as I made these photographs. I could feel them leading me through a parodic labyrinth in which illusions, masquerading as truth, form shadows of reality. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but I felt the potential for a new type of photograph there.

- Kikuji Kawada, Tokyo, 2020