Released on April 26th, the catalogue for Nobuyoshi Araki’s massive exhibition at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art in Aichi prefecture is a stunningly brilliant photobook.
Nobuyoshi Araki: Ojo Shashu: Photography for the Afterlife
Rather than a rote “best of” collection this book instead remasters and remixes Araki’s early work playing against the flow of time and even death itself. The majority of the images are quite recent- many have date-stamps from late 2013. Many others have been taken from his “Happy Photograph That Araki Took” column on 47 News. The museum’s guidelines against the inclusion of his more popular “ero” images for this exhibition established constraints which allow for an underrepresented (abroad, at least) side of this photographer to come through.
Physically, this book is itself a work of art- rarely will you find a photobook that takes risks as rewarding as this one which work so subtly well. The 300+ pages are comprised of variety of paper stocks- The subway series inside is printed on a delicate almost newsprint type paper that forces the viewer to act nimbly when turning the pages. Interaction with the book as an object is also accentuated by the stiff cardboard obi and interspersed fold-out pages as well.
The book closes with several written pieces, each in Japanese and English. There is an excellent bit on linking Araki’s work with Japanese Buddhisim and the final bit is a weirdly wonderful hybrid of an interview with Araki framed by a sci-fi short story that midway through had me checking the writer’s name to see if it wasn’t Haruki Murakami at work. It wasn’t, but the author, Kaori Fujino, created something that smartly compliments the overwhelming feelings which the work in this book and the aura around its maker creates.
This book is available now at bookstores across Japan. Those outside Japan can place an order with Japan Exposures.
The exhibition is up from April 22 - June 29, 2014 at the Toyota City Municipal Museum of Art.