Seen: 釜ヶ崎 Kamagasaki
Who: Issei Suda
Where: Zen Foto Gallery, Roppongi
When: February 6 - 28, 2015
In 2014, I was asked to take photographs of Kamagasaki and visited the town with little concern for how the town would affect me. My friend living in Osaka advised me to carry only small cameras to avoid drawing attention from the residents. I however ended up picking up two medium format cameras*, which definitely attracted attention. Needless to say I have no interest in socio-political issues, never feeling any responsibilities to society. I was even once called an ‘observing’ photographer. I am merely a middle-aged stranger. I deserved those sharp glares and alarming jeers that I received from the residents throughout the shoot.So begins Suda’s statement on this exhibition and accompanying photobook, Kamagasaki Magic Lantern (Zen Foto, 2015). Kamagasaki is a rough section of Osaka- it’s one of the two places in Japan I’ve been strictly warned by Japanese photographers not to ever carry a camera into- (the other being the Senzoku district in Tokyo). Indeed, during a visit to Osaka with my editor in 2012 he made me put my camera into my bag before entering Kamagasaki’s narrow and beaten streets. That said, it’s not an un-photographed town, of course- Seiryu Inoue produced some incredible work in those same streets in the past. Haruto Hoshi as well, has made fine work there, too.
Kamagasaki was the result of an offer to visit Osaka by Mark Pearson, owner and founder of Zen Foto Gallery, who was curious to see work that Suda, a Tokyo native, might create in an entirely different area. Suda agreed, only to return home to realize that he had already created a body of work there back in 2000. At that time and at the suggestion of a friend from Osaka, he shot with a small Ricoh Auto-Half as not to draw unwanted attention. The negatives were developed, filed, and then forgotten.
Fast forward to 2014- so difficult was it the first day to even walk down the street with a camera that Suda ended up the next day employing an attractive female model to act as a decoy while photographing the town. The full story of this experience, and insight into Suda’s approach to photography can be read here: Issei Suda in Kamagasaki
Photographs from both series have been published together into an incredible photobook- Kamagasaki Magic Lantern. Divided into two volumes and encased in one slipcover, the medium format photos from 2014 are, with an exception of one sealed page referencing bound in the usual manner, while the half-frame images are printed across sixty pages as a gatefold design. When this was debuted at the talk (picture 6, above), every audience member in the gallery craned their neck to get a better look.
The images in the exhibition don’t share the immediate impact that his earlier pictures from Waga Tokyo 100&Fushi Kaden have- but their power becomes apparent through direct yet thoughtful viewing. As with any slowly-stimulating photograph, the longer they are viewed the more captivating they become.
On February 28th, writer Ayako Koide led a fascinating discussion in an Artist Talk event with Suda at Zen Foto Gallery. In regards to his current approach to photography, he said that he’s currently more interested in pictures that are removed from incredible subjects or moments. While that seems apparent in the work shown, the pairings of images, whether from exposing two half-frames of film through he same 35mm negative carrier for a single print- or the sublime pairing of a woman and man along a lit fence in two separate frames- results in a flow of time that, through his unique point of view, can have a powerful impact on the viewer. This makes them less about a particular place than it does about a particular person: Issei Suda.