Seen: GRAF TIME 2012-2016
Who: 本山周平 Shuhei Motoyama
Where: Place M, Shinjuku
When: May 13 - 19, 2019
At Place M in Shinjuku is an excellent exhibition by photographer Shuhei Motoyama. Titled “GRAF TIME 2012-2016”, it is comprised of a selection of images during his involvement with the photographer-run group/publisher GRAF. Motoyama’s photographs, often made in rural Japan, offer visual rewards to those who take time with them. “Looking” is the first step in encountering any image- but it’s a good photograph that keeps you around long enough to start seeing.
Spending a few minutes with any one of Motoyama prints is an enriching experience. The photographic details contained in the image reveal themselves as elements that ultimately fit together to create a complete world within the frame. Motoyama’s inclusion of private family photographs within his broader selection is a clever way of tethering the work to his specific, individual reality.
Motoyama isn’t just a prolific photographer- he’s also a prolific publisher. Since the early 2000s he’s been producing books of his work. A selection of them are available for purchase in the gallery. Keep in mind that the installation shots above just show some of the work in the show- work shot over four years(!) and the entire exhibition, per usual in Tokyo, is only up for six days.