Name | Robert Hecimovic

Country | Australia

DOB | 1986.11.23

Email | roberthecimovic@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae | Click Here

Statement | Robert Hecimovic

Before embarking on a video research trip to Japan in 2006, I had intended to film and document the dense and chaotic lifestyle of urban Japan.

Knowing no Japanese and working strictly on instinct and wit, which turned out to be rather useful, I headed to the local Train station and bought what I thought was a one-way pass to Tokyo. After making myself comfortable my eyes became heavy and as hard as I fought to stay awake, I lost out to sleepiness. After a few hours of restless sleep I woke up to the beautiful snow capped landscape of Nagano, a far cry from the concrete and steel of Tokyo that I was expecting. I caught another instinctively chosen train and ended up in Yudanaka, a small country town with one huge drawcard, snow monkeys. After hiking up a mountain for two hours I made it to one of the most captivating and awe-inspiring places on earth. I was on top of a mountain cloaked in a valley of snow, watching a colony of monkeys bathe in a natural hot spring. I was entangled with my surrounding environment and for a brief moment time stood still. I had never experienced such a moment like this before.

In reflection the choices I made that day were intended for a different purpose yet those 'mistakes' turned out to be much more beneficial that a perfectly executed trip could ever have been.