“How We See: Photobooks by Women” by 10 x 10 photobook

Just as Kipling says in his poetry, The Ballad of East and West (1889), ”Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” I believe that there is a huge gap and difference between East and West.  Even though we live in an interconnected digital society, I don't agree that we share a true sense of the same perspective, understanding and appreciation of anything in art and photography. However, it is indispensable that I as a Japanese writer, publisher and book consultant based in New York, continue my tireless and consistent effort to make our art/photography accessible to people in the US and Europe.  Placing Asian photography into their logical systems (western art history or philosophy), I can present ideas to help bridge the east/west gap between the work and the audience.  This is the only way for us to finally start a meaningful discussion leading to a mutual understanding of the art. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to introduce 10 Asian photographers through this publication.

One of the most challenging parts of being women in Asia is that our social and personal behaviors are highly anticipated and controlled by society. It can apply similarly to women in the US or Europe, but our sense of being independent is not considered to be the most important philosophy or ethics carried on in our daily lives at all.  Therefore, we are still likely to attentively position ourselves in relation to the people around us, and we end up behaving for the favor of the others in a given situation. In spite of the difficulties and obstacles to find and express our true voices in such circumstances, these 10 photographers exhibit their abundant creative talents and express their own unique world views through their photographic work. 

 SELECTED BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

1. Michiyo Inoue, Kogakure No Koewo Hirou (Whisper of Shadows), Atelier Me, Tokyo 2017

Inoue only started taking pictures in her 50s, after her children left home and her parents passed away.  She completed her formal education at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2012.  Whisper of Shadows is her first monograph, and it was published in association with her first solo exhibition in Nikon Salon in Ginza and Osaka in 2017.   Inoue questions the views of life and death by showing the ordinary scenery that we might miss paying close attention to.  Carefully sequenced and edited, Whisper of Shadows introduces the idea that death and life are fused together and they shine vividly through our passing moments in life.

2. Masumi Kura, Men are Beautiful, Urgent Press, Tokyo, 2016

When Kura originally conceived Men are Beautiful and started taking a photos in Paris, New York, Seoul and Mexico City from 2012 to 2016, she was obviously aware of Garry Winograndís Women are Beautiful (NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975).  In Winograndís work we can clearly see a persistent and ardent quest for his favorite type of young, white and good looking female figures.  On the other hand, Kuraís preference for the other gender varies. mixing old and young.  We don't find an aggressive demeanor in her photography, she appears to be a passenger or distant observer.  Instead of getting Winogrand's sharpness and perfect composition, Kuraís work is loosely composed in a natural setting and appears subjective.  It makes me wonder if the female preference for a male partner is based more on his internal strength rather than his outer beauty?  Or does Kura want to question us about our norm of beauty discovered in every type of men?  This is her forth publication after 3 books from Sokusya, Tokyo and it successfully gives the viewers many questions about female gazes.

3. Tomoko Kikuchi, I and I, LíArtiere Edizioni, Bologna, 2015

Kikuchi took a unique path compared to many other female photographers in Japan.  Upon her graduation from the Musashino Art University in 1996, she moved to Hong Kong.  Since 1999, she has lived and worked in Beijing on assignment from major western media including Newsweek, New York Times, Stern, Vu and Der Spiegel, as well as taking still photography for the movies directed by Christopher Doyle and Peter Ho-sun Chan.  Her association with the two film directors has further shaped her intense and rich color palette, and provided sharp and timelessly perfect composition to her photography.  Ever since Kikuchi met a drag queen, Meimei in 2005 on New Yearís Eve in Beijing, Kikuchi has persistently documented the public and private lives of the queens.  Her work not only documents the conflicts between their sexuality and a society where drastic changes in every aspect of their life have been brutally imposed by China's recent economic growth, but also shows her searching for her own identity as a photographer and human being.

4. Eriko Masaoka, In the Flap of a Birdís Wing, Water Dries Up, Higashikawa International Photo Festival, Hokkaido, 2016

Currently living and working in Munich, Germany, Masaoka had worked on In the Flap of a Birdís Wing, Water Dries Up for 10 years after her graduation from the Visual Arts College Osaka in 2005.  Masaokaís work was first recognized by Miyako Ishiuchi at the 27th Hitotsubo-ten, Tokyo in 2006.  It is characterized by the powerful impact of black and white photos of people, sky, animals, and landscape.  Masaoka explains that our life is just like raindrops from the sky.  We are temporarily here on the earth, and we come across people and landscapes in our short lives, but just like rain hitting the ground, in a relative instant we are all gone.  Masaoka is always drawn to places where people live at the edge of society.  This publication is a catalogue made for her award at the portfolio review of Higashikawa International Photo Festival, 2016. It includes many shots from Nibutani in Hokkaido where Ainu people and hippies chose to live for a hidden paradise.

5. Pixy Liao, Experimental Relationship, self-published , New York, 2017

Challenging a traditional sense of female role in her Chinese background, Liao has been creating an ongoing photography series with her partner, Moro, since 2007.  Moro is younger and wants to be a musician, and he is not supportive as Liao originally wished for her ideal mate, but they have bonded together as partners for over 10 years.  Liao's humorously staged photos look light and funny as lovely couple pictures from the first glance.  But it appears to be that Liao raises deeper and more serious question of love and hate relationships between her Japanese partner and Chinese born Liao.  Can it be political satire??  A Chinese publisher, Jiazazhi is currently working on her book and it will be published in spring 2018.  Liao is the one of the most important emerging female photographers who is concerned about alternative possibilities of heterosexual relationships.

6. Lieko Shiga, Blind Date, T&M Projects, Tokyo, 2017 

Among Lieko Shiga's six publications as of 2017, Blind Date achieves the simplest composition, yet is also the deepest investigation into her persistent question about life: how do we exist?  How does light affect our perception?  The title, Blind Love, is not our regular idea for dating somebody you haven't previously met.  It actually suggests that young coupleís suicide attempt by the passenger covering the driver's eye sight from the backseat.  We can easily laugh at young peopleís silly idea of their romantic and naive love.  We can also comfortably associate ourselves with this feeling, since Shiga masterfully captures intense female gazes with a ghostly dark background in a consistent format, and their gaze will sharply penetrate our mind and remind us of the old sweet memories.  Shiga is a photographer who can elevate documentary to her creative world, not relying on any academic discourse but by trusting her strong instinct and imagination.

7. Momo Okabe, Unseen / Tsunami with (with Kohey Kanno), Dashwood Books, New York, 2012

Okabe ís work comes from a deep desire and quest for connecting to the outside world.  Not paying any special attention to a perfect composition or natural day light, her work uses a kaleidoscopic color pallet, goes a bit off center and often appears blurry.  However, those haphazard elements make her work powerful and unforgettable to the viewer.  Okabe ruthlessly breaks our conventional notion of what good or perfect photography should be.  She created Tsunami for her private life with her lovers and circle of friends around the time the earthquake hit Fukushima in March 2011.

8. Yurie Nagashima, 5 Comes After 6, Match and Company, Tokyo, 2014

Nagashima is one of the most important female photographers in Japan after Miyako Ishiuchi, Mao Ishikawa and Tamiko Nishimura.  Different from her earlier self-portrait or family pictures made in the 1990s and early 2000, 5 Comes After 6 marks a fresh start for her photographic career. Nagashimaís eyes become softer with maternal affection, and it feels more internal and introspective.  Separating from her partner and father of her child and raising the child alone, she attains a new horizon of expression.  Through this publication, Nagashima attentively speaks to the viewers about tiny but precious moments in life that we encounter everyday.

9. Fumiko Imano, We Out!, Little Big Man, Los Angles, 2017

We Out! is a self-portrait with her conceived twin sister, and it is comprised of photos from 2002 to 2012, with one shot from her childhood.  Rawness of the image and rough replacement of the figures in the photo make her work less perfect and more naive compared to the similar conceptual work made by Cindy Sherman or Nikky Lee.  However, her work provides the viewers with comfortable familiarity and friendly playfulness.  Noticing that this is her lone act by placing her fantasy twin sister in the image, her playfulness will turn into loneliness.  Despite the negative and dark undertones of her work, it holds a unique charm and it provides the viewers with easiness and softness.  This project can be regarded as anti-self portrait / conceptual work against todayís high polished selfie culture / western notion of ëart historyí.  We Out! can be considered to be Fumiko's propaganda.

10. Maiko Haruki, _etc., Akaaka Art Publishing, Kyoto, 2017

Published in conjunction with her solo exhibition at Taro Nasu Gallery, Tokyo, Sep. 2017., _etc. comprised of 3 bodies of her work, view for a moment (2011), A certain composition of eyes (2014) and vision | noisiv (2017).  First recognized by an architect, Toyou Ito for Roppongi Crossing at Moi Art Museum, Tokyo in 2007, Haruki has been making her conceptional work by paying a close attention to the technical possibilities of camera lenses.  Haruki usually makes her work in the day time, and the black part observed in her work suggests the things that are not affected by light, and it uniquely holds translucent elegance and mysterious tranquility to the white part. Harukiís work is defiantly conceptional, as opposed to the documentary style more popular in the Japanese photo community.  Away from Japanese traditional mythologies or emotional driven straight photography, Haruki pursues her investigation into oneís ability of perception through her work. Haruki is one of the most indispensable female artists in Japan right now.

VOSTOK magazine 002 / Ari Marcopoulos, Lele Saveri, Gary Schneider, Michael Galinsky, Leigh Ledare and Paul Graham

VOSTOK 001, BOOK REVIEWS / Katsu Naito, Nigel Shafran and Juergen Teller

Descriptions from DAP

ウィリアム・エグルストン：デモクラテック・フォレスト

寄稿：アレクサンダー・ネムロフ

しばしばカラー・フォトグラフィーの祖と仰がれているウィリアム・エグルストンは、約60年にわたり、日常のありれたものに主題を求め、色、形、構成を生まれながらの洗練されたセンスでフレームに合わせることで唯一無二のスタイルを築いてきました。エグルストンの作品を通して、ありきたりのものとして見過ごされている風景を固定された意味から解き放ち、詩的で特有な意味合いを見出すことができます。

アメリカの写真の歴史上、カラー写真が公の美術館で発表されたのは、ジョン・シャーカフスキーがキューレションをしたエグルストンの1976年のニューヨーク近代美術館の個展でした。それ以後、エグルストンはブレッソン、フランク、エバンスと並び不動の地位を確立することとなりました。

2016年にニューヨークのデビット・ズワイナー・ギャラリーの展示会を機に出版された本書は、特に一つの主題を重要視することなく「デモクラティク(民主的)」に60点以上の作品から構成され、デビット・ズワイナー・ギャラリーとスタイドル社の共同出版となります。

ちなみに初版は、ロンドンの、 Secker & Warburg出版社から1989年に出版されました。その後、ドイツのスタイドル社から2015年に10冊1組で1000点以上の作品が収められて出版されています。

William Eggleston: The Democratic Forest

Selected Works

Contributions by Alexander Nemerov.

Over the course of nearly six decades, William Eggleston—often referred to as the “father of color photography”—has established a singular pictorial style that deftly combines vernacular subject matter with an innate and sophisticated understanding of color, form, and composition.

Eggleston has said, “I am at war with the obvious.” His photographs transform the ordinary into distinctive, poetic images that eschew fixed meaning. Though criticized at the time, his now legendary 1976 solo exhibition, organized by the visionary curator John Szarkowski at The Museum of Modern Art, New York—the first presentation of color photography at the museum—heralded an important moment in the medium’s acceptance within the art-historical canon and solidified Eggleston’s position in the pantheon of the greats alongside Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, and Walker Evans.

Published on the occasion of David Zwirner’s New York exhibition of selections from The Democratic Forest in the fall of 2016, this new catalogue highlights over sixty exceptional images from Eggleston’s epic project. His photography is “democratic” in its resistance to hierarchy where, as noted by the artist, “no particular subject is more or less important than another.”

Featuring original scholarship by Alexander Nemerov, this notable presentation of The Democratic Forest provides historical context for a monumental body of work, while offering newcomers a foothold in Eggleston’s photographic practice.

“Unique Photographs” by Fred Cray

“Unique Photographs” 

As photography evolves into another generation, the fate of our visual experience is thrown across the sprawl of the digital environment. The “uniqueness” of the contemporary photograph is not inherent, and more than ever the sum of it’s parts must grow in new ways in order to survive. Instead of offering a simple alternative to the now banal questions of what makes something original, Fred Cray’s first publicly released artist book offers a revised method: natural selection.

“Unique Photographs” adds dimension to ideas of chance in photography. Cray’s work gains substance from serendipitous interactions with people who discover his prints left at varying locations including New York, across the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa.  His work breeds discovery as he individualizes the images (and for that matter he individualizes the book with holes and unique photographs as inserts) by randomly punching holes in different spots, digitally altering, stamping, and/or numbering by hand (as if specimens set loose into the wild.)  As a type of epilogue at the end of the book Cray shares the email correspondences and reactions he receives from those who accidentally find the prints.  I am struck by the urge of those who discover his pieces to look up his name on Google and to actually send him their messages, a seemingly laborious gesture too often trumped by impracticality in this high speed age of our digital society.  However, this project has been successfully (and delightfully) realized because of people’s pure curiosity and desire to reach out to others.  Cray’s gesture offers us a chance to carefully look, and, moreover, he gives us a possibility to connect with people beyond immediate time and place: a sense that we are moving forward but not at the expense of expectation or technological grind. 

With an interdisciplinary educational background in literature and painting, Cray has become a multi-faceted artist and has a particular sensitivity to narrative elements in art movements of the 1960s and 70s.  He respects Joseph Beuys’ environment based works as well as the theories formed by Fluxus groups especially for their participation within a public setting.  However, Cray’s attempts are intentionally apolitical unlike the aims of Fluxus members. He molds the current development of our digital culture to his advantage. Cray is hopeful in his attempts of connecting people (to each other and to himself) through his unorthodox process. By creating threads of connection with his photography, Cray presents himself articulately as a visual poet rather than an aggressive protagonist. 

As a native Japanese, I can’t help comparing his project with “Lemon”, one of the masterpieces in modern Japanese literature and written by Motojiro Kajii in 1925. In this story, a lemon is placed on the pile of the books at the large bookstore in Tokyo.  For Kajii, a bookstore was symbol of an overwhelming amount of information and on the other hand the decline and fear of the intellectual life. The lemon represents an actual object and an awaking for a fresh new mental life.  I see this story as empathetic and insightful regarding hope and chance in a way not dissimilar to Cray’s project.  After “Lemon” was published, I heard that the popularity quickly rose among many readers, they also left lemons at the bookstores, and it was a small trouble and an innocent act.  I wonder [hope?] if the popularity of Cray’s “Unique Photographs” will induce the same kind of phenomena, and give us a joyful and genuine encounter with the other people.

"New York Arbor" by Mitch Epstein, (Steidl, 2013 ) / ニューヨーク・アーバー、ミッチ・エプステイン

１９５２年生まれのミッチ・エプステイン は、ニューヨークをベースに活躍する写真家です。２００９年にステイドル社から発刊された、"American Power"は、アメリカで製造されるエネルギー源の使用と供給に関する作品だったことから、特に社会派の写真家という認識で理解されている作家です。私は、ミッチ・エプステイン の作品を知ったのは、写真集が最初ではなく、映画の撮影監督としての仕事でした。それは、前妻である映画監督のミラ・ネイアー　(Mira Nair) との共作ドキュメンタリー映画、"Indian Cabaret" (1985)です。この映画はインドの娼婦の生活を追った作品ですが、エプステインにとり、その後（２０１３年現時点におき）、３作映画の映像を制作し、９冊の写真集を発刊していることから、写真家としての目を養った重要な作品の一つであると思います。

前作の"American Power"は、非常に大掛かりなプロジェクトで、５年間の歳月（２００４年ー２００９年）を費やし、アメリカ全土を横断し完成させたエネルギー資源について作品でした。それと打って変わり、"New York Arbor"はエプステインの地元である、ニューヨークの５つの地区に生息する木についての作品です。エプステインは、この作品に関して"about photographing something to honour, rather than mourn" (悲観的な物ではなく栄誉を称える作品をつくりたかったんだ）と話しています。また、この作品は、ニューヨークと言う大都会において、普段見過ごされている、自然が、どのように社会の中で快活に、永続して生息しているかを指し示した作品でもあります。 もちろん、旧作と同様、政治的で、社会的な要素を汲み取ることができる作品ですが、この作品の一番美しい点は、本のプリントの美しさと、本の表紙のデザインの繊細さにあると思います。そして、その２つの要素が、エプステインのプロジェクトをさらに崇高な作品として完結させている点だと思います。モノクロの作品は、単なる２色の黒と白ではなく、消え入りそうなグレーの色合いのバリエーションは幅広く、主題である、木の存在を抽象的に浮き彫りにし、優美さと威風堂々とした趣を醸し出しています。

題名である、"New York Arbor"のArborは、日本語の東屋にあたります。ニューヨークの都市を一つの庭園とし、そこに生息する木々を、休憩所として想定している粋なタイトルだと思います。１９世紀後半から２０世紀の初頭にかけて、フランスの写真家ユージン・アジェット（Eugene Atget）は、近代化の波が押し寄せるパリの街で、昔ながらのパリの面影を残す都市の風景や、建築物の作品を制作しました。ミッチ・エプステイン は、"New York Arbor" で、木々を主題に作品を制作していますが、ニューヨークという大都市の現代の様相を記録する作品として、アジェットと同じような位相から歴史的に検証されることと思います。

Teenage Precinct Shoppers by Nigel Shafran

I like photography that brings up music automatically and Nigel Shafran's work is just that type of work I enjoy sincerely.  I hear the 80s-90s British/Irish rock music from his work,,The Smith, Belle and Sebastian, New Order and Jesus and Mary Jane.  Those are sentimental, fragile and beautiful.

He applied a stripped down approach to the subject to reveals beauty of simplicity since he navigates the subject in the way it should be. He does this since he has a strong empathy to his subject. It must be very refreshing and suprising to fashion photography in the 90s when many were driven to more technical approach for an elaborate effect.

In Teenage Precinct Shoppers, there are two series of teenage portraits: one in black and white and it was taken in Ilford town centre in the suburbs of East London which originally appeared in I-D magazine in 1990.  The other one was shot both in Ilford Town Center and Brent Cross Shopping Centre.  His sincere and straight forward treatment to his subject successfully highlights the subject's presence in the most respectful way.

私は、音楽が聞こえてくるような写真が大好きです。ナイジェル・シャフランの作品はまさに、私が心から楽しむ写真と言えます。シャフランの作品から聞こえてくるのは、８０年代、９０年代のブリティッシュ／アイリッシュのロック・ミュージックです。スミス、ベラ　アンド　セバスチャン、ニューオーダー、ジーザス　アンドマリー ジェーンの儚く、美しく、センチメンタルなメロディーが流れてきます。

シャフランは、主体自体を自然にあるがままの状態に置くことで、装飾を完全に排したアプローチを用い、簡潔さから導かれる美しさを引き出しています。シャフランのこのような制作態度は、シャフランの主体に対する強い共感であるといってもよいでしょう。シャフランの作品は, ９０年代多くのファッション写真家が、より複雑なテクニックを駆使し、手の込んだ効果を生み出すことに躍起になっている時代に、とても新鮮であったことだろうと思います。

Teenage Precinct Shoppers では、２つのシリーズを合わせて発表しています。一つ目は、９０年に、I-D magazineに掲載されたロンドンの東部の郊外のIlford の商店街で撮影されたモノクロの作品です。２つ目の作品は、カラー写真で、Ilfordの商店街、ブレント・クロス・ショッピング・センターで撮影されました。誠実にあるがままに対象を捉えることで、対象の存在感を強調させています。

published by Dashwood Books, 2013

edition of 500 copies

softcover / 66 pages / 9.5 x 7 in

$27

Pls order the copy thru Dashwood Books website:オーダーは、ダシュウッド・ブックスまで。