Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Seen: July 7th ／ 七月七日
Who: Nobuyoshi Araki 荒木経惟
Where: Art Space AM, Harajuku (map)
When: July 7 - September 9, 2021 (Open 1-7pm. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays)
July 7th is both Nobuyoshi Araki’s wedding anniversary and the title of his latest exhibition which opened on that day- his 50th anniversary- at Art Space AM in Harajuku.
The connections between the photographs on display and the event commemorated aren’t immediately apparent. As with his recent shows at AM, the work exhibited is of his “Paradise” series- 6x7 photographic terrariums populated by vivid flowers and bizarre, often altered dolls. If you look closely- or look the right way, Araki-like avatars appear here and there within them- as do those which could be seen as representations of his wife, Yoko, as well.
The show features large inkjet prints of these pictures and 198 new polaroids- but despite such a volume of images there is but a single picture of human beings in this entire exhibition. It’s the photo of the husband and wife holding hands for the last time- an image which Juergen Teller said is perhaps
“…the most black and white photograph ever, Life and Death, him in a black suit, a tiny bit of his white shirt showing, like hope, and on the right side of the photograph all in white, his wife dying, holding hands, saying goodbye.”
That photograph hangs to one of a rare, and full, late-afternoon rainbow. I kept thinking about this image- it was rare-enough and late-afternoon enough to make me wonder if it was one I remembered from May this year. I opened my iPhone’s photo folder for the street-level snap I (and thousands of others) took of it.
The date of the rainbow was May 17. I searched “Yoko Araki birthday”.
It was May 17th.
Linking that rainbow- a greeting from the heavens, if you will- with the picture taken just before she died- their hands arching together… at the end of the film Arakimentari, Shino, one of Araki’s collaborators talks about how her first encoutner with the image of their hands reduced her to tears in a bookstore- noting that the core of Araki’s work is a true, human warmth. I felt that the pairing rainbow photograph simply amplifies his sensitivity, his sentemintality- here in an age where such feelings are in short supply.
“July 7” is up at ArtSpace AM until September 9th, 2021.
- - - - -
The Teller quote above is from his contribution to the catalog (pg.219) that the Tokyo Museum of Photographic Art published for Araki’s retrospective “Sentimental Journey 1971- 2017-”.
Teller continued:
“Such an extremely powerful photograph. Everything Araki is, is this. It is always life, it is joy, lust, full of decay and death. He is one of the most honest and intelligent photographers I know. He takes life full on. Dear Araki, you are brilliant.”