A photograph of Tazuko Masuyama posing together with the workers who are building the dam that will flood her village. Contradiction. 

It appears that I’m not actually blogging again after all.

Here is a translation (by Yoshiaki Kai) of the Masashi Kohara essay ¹ in Tazuko Masuyama’s exhibition catalog.

I put together a short list of notable photobooks from 2014 for The Japan Times ¹.

I wrote a short article for Tokyo Art Beat ¹ about two shows that are currently up around Tokyo: Tazuko Masuyama’s “Until Everything Becomes a Photograph,” which I introduced very briefly here ², and “The Exposed #7,” a group show of young Japanese photographers. I think it will be obvious that I am at an early stage of dealing with the ideas introduced in this article.

“The Final Village Sports Festival,” 1986

I highly recommend a visit to the Tazuko Masuyama exhibit at Izu Photo Museum ¹, which is up until March 2. Masuyama lived in a mountain village in rural Gifu which was flooded in September of 2006 as part of the construction of a large dam. The dam construction itself took 28 years to complete from the time that it was announced, and Masuyama photographed her village consistently until her death in March 2006. Among many other things, this exhibit speaks to the power of having a personal connection to one’s subject. It sounds like Masuyama’s publications are hard to come by, but the catalog for the show will be out sometime next month.

“City Hall, too, was finally demolished. I couldn’t see it well because my eyes were cloudy from the tears, but the lens could take it clearly.” 1987

“100 Year Print”