Seen: HEISEI - TOKYO Snap Shot Love
Who: 有元伸也、ERIC、大西正、大西みつぐ、オカダキサラ、尾仲浩二、中野正貴、中藤毅彦、ハービー・山口、原美樹子、元田敬三
Shinya Arimoto, ERIC, Tadashi Onishi, Mitsugu Ohnishi, Kisara Okada, Koji Onaka, Masataka Nakano, Takehiko Nakafuji, Herbie Yamaguchi, Mikiko Hara, Keizo Motoda
Where: FUJIFILM SQUARE, Roppongi, Tokyo
When: June 21 - July 10, 2019
May 1st, 2019 marked the beginning of Japan’s new imperial era- Reiwa. However, the country- from the mass media down to individuals- spent much of April 2019 reflecting upon the previous thirty years that made up the Heisei period.
Fujifilm has sponsored a vivid look back at street photography of the Heisei era with an exhibition of “snapshot” work by eleven photographers. This show is a fine opportunity to see some great work up close. In terms of participating artists it’s a pretty good overview of the street photography scene in Tokyo- and the difference in approaches to the city, materials, and the camera which each photographer applies is clearly shown.
This is probably the best street photography show of the year. If you love photography, it’s not to be missed. And if you really love photography, it’s to be seen more than once. I know I’m going back.
Note: I’d love to have been able to post some installation shots of the show- but he only part which visitors are allowed and encouraged to photograph is the colorful title wall featuring an image from Konji Onaka’s Tokyo Candy Box (2001) accentuated with neon lights. The neon Fujipet camera is a nice touch, too.