A Matter Of Life & Death

Last updated: 16/11/2006 - 12:14

Arguably Japan's greatest living photographer - certainly one of it’s most controversial: Nobuyoshi Araki is celebrated in a new collection.

Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death

Nobuyoshi Araki is arguably Japan’s greatest living photographer, and certainly it’s most controversial. Araki’s inexhaustible creative energy is clearly evident in the 300 books he has published over the last four decades of his career. His photographs - which often challenge the diverse social taboos surrounding sex and death - have drawn critical attention throughout the world.

Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death is the first major compliation of Araki’s - and it's release coincided with a major exhibition of the same name at London's The Barbican Art Gallery.

"Photography is Life!"

For Araki, photography began as a visual diary that grew into a hyperactive, obsessive-compulsive flood of images until the point of separation between his life and his photography crumbled. "Photography is Life!" he declared. He photographs
as continuously as he breathes - this collection - both on the walls of The Barbican and in the pages of the book - aims to provide the most comprehensive overview yet of his prolific 40-year career yet.

Encompassing contemporary Japanese sub-culture, Araki’s subjects range from poetic scenes of old Tokyo to erotic images of kimono-clad women bound in rope and shots of nudes with plastic dinosaurs (Araki’s alter-ego) and exotic flowers as props.

This new exhibition is arranged thematically to highlight the recurring themes in Araki’s work: self, life and death. It features many of Araki’s most significant works, from the early 1960s to today, including images of Tokyo’s Shitamachi (downtown) children, Satchin and Mabo (1963); Sentimental Journey (1971) an intimate collection of ‘diary’ photographs of his honeymoon; and Tokyo Nude (1989) a group of large-format photographs, displayed in pairs, contrasting languid nudes with desolate Tokyo streets.

Erotos

Other major works include: Erotos (1993), Colour-eros (2005) and Japanese Faces (a project Araki has been working on since 2002). Many rare images, previously unpublished outside Japan, are presented, together with new works created specially for the show. The exhibition also features an impressive display of books published by Araki, as well as sketchbooks, scrapbooks, Xerox photo-albums and other working materials exhibited for the first time.

Born in 1940, Araki belongs to a generation of photographers who emerged in the late 1960s, when Japan had finally recovered from the impact of the Second World War. While the country was experiencing radical transformation with rapid economic growth and urbanisation, this generation of photographers began to explore new directions in style and subject, beyond the existing norms of Japanese photography at the time such as art, photo-journalism and advertising.

In 1971 Araki privately published Sentimental Journey, an intimate account of his honeymoon with his wife Yoko. In the preface of the book, Araki declared that his "point of departure as a photographer was love...and the idea of an ‘I-novel’": a form of Japanese fiction written autobiographically and in the first person. With this, Araki established a new genre, ‘I-photography’, in which his own life and feelings became the central subject of his work. The idea was to have a great impact on a younger generation of Japanese photographers, especially in the 1990s.

Shunga

By 1990 – the year that marked the death of Yoko - Araki had produced an immense body of work. Through his photographs he created his own universe, where the themes of sex, self, life and death are closely entwined. Tokyo, Araki’s home city, often features as a motif in his work, while his rich visual vocabulary is drawn from the erotic Shunga artworks of the Edo period (around 1600 - 1867) as well as the glossy imagery of the new commercial culture. Through his innovative approach to his medium –sometimes combining painting, drawing and film – Araki has become an influential figure in contemporary art, beyond the field of photography.

The most ambitious book to date on Araki's work, Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death has been edited by Akiko Miki, Yoshiko Isshiki and Tomoko Sato, the curators of the Barbican Gallery exhibition. The massive new collection includes over 1000 photographs from Araki's entire career and features an interview and essays by writers from Japan and Europe - examining Araki from a broad range of perspectives and giving a cultural context to his work.

(pictured, left: Tokyo Comedy - detail only.)

"If you've heard of Nobuyoshi Araki, want to get to know him, or are a little curious, this is the perfect book to look at." - Apollo Clark from Chicago, IL USA, writing on Amazon, March 2006.

Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death also includes a large selection of Araki's writings; translated into English for the first time, as well as a complete illustrated and annotated bibliography of his own books. This volume retails for under £40 and is available from the Barbican bookshop, as well as directly, from Phaidon Press.

Nobuyoshi Araki: Self, Life, Death is out now as a Custom Cloth-Bound 720 page volume, from Phaidon.