Those with a general knowledge of contemporary Tokyo will no doubt be at least slightly aware of the existence of the 50’s era-esque greaser rockabilly dancers of Yoyogi Park. Gathering to dance and drink every Sunday for the past few decades, these revelers have long been fodder for photographers, from the grinning causal tourists to the foreign amateur “photojournalists" almost tripping over their 5DMkIIs in delight to have found a subject so totally Tokyo with which to pad a portfolio with. Indeed, while these photo-ready leather-clad dancers are immensely well represented on Flickr I don’t think anyone has yet been able to provide any real insight or proper context to these people before photographer Keizo Motoda.
Motoda, a graduate of The School of Visual Arts Osaka, has been working the streets with his camera since 1997. This exhibition, SUNDAY HARAJUKU, compliments his most recent photobook of the same title. The book, published by Super Labo, has been smartly printed (hand stitched binding!) in the original panoramic format and is available from Japan Exposures.
Motoda engaged these Harajuku Sundays from 2005 to 2011 with a 35mm panoramic Widelux F7, a camera which as the photographer himself says in his statement about the series:
…does a pan focus on a wide range of 140 degrees, automatically capturing all that is going on there. I didn’t know what would be on the film until I developed them. That is the true appeal of photography.
Motoda’s delight in what the camera records was further magnified by the printing of the images for this show- there are ten of them, each 2 meters wide and 1 meter tall. At this size the enhancement of seemingly inconsequential details blossoms into new insights into the pictures and the scenes they record. The images are hung in a row with each print flush against the next. This creates the sensation of looking at one long scroll and despite the fact that there are only ten prints in the main room the viewer has no shortage of elements to notice and enjoy.
Who: Keizo Motoda
What: Sunday Harajuku
Where: EPSITE Epson Imaging Gallery, Shinjuku (map)
When: July 12 - 25 (gallery open 10:30-6:00)