BOOK:New Trends in Japanese Photography, SKIRA Editore

In general, Japanese photographers are not well known in the West.  In th book “New Trends in Japanese Photography” by SKIRA, the director of Fondazione Fotografia, Modena, Filippo Maggia presents a selection of work that captures the complex range of new Japanese photographic work. Post–World War II Japanese photography was dominated by street photographers: Daido Moriyama, Osamu Kanemura, and Yakuma Nakahira, who captured the daily life in urban Japan. The photography magazine PROVOKE whose only three editions marked the definitive beginning of a new era for contemporary Japanese photography. Other significant figures in post-war and contemporary Japanese photography include Hiroshi Sugimoto, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Hiroshi Masaki.  “New Trends in Japanese Photography” acts as a visual introduction presenting the work of 14 Japanese photographers that they are not very well-known in the West and their work is very different from typical images. In the Biography section at the back of the book, Maiko Haruki, Naoki Ishikawa, Tomoko Kikuchi, Toshiya Murakoshi, Yurie Nagashima, Sohei Nishino, Koji Onaka, Yuki Onodera, Chino Otsuka, Tomoko Sawada, Lieko Shiga, Risaku Suzuki, Ryoko Suzuki, and Chikako Yamashiro are presented by a brief, but  informative, biography that indicates their achievements in awards and exhibitions.-Dimitris Lempesis