Fusako Kodama

Fusako Kodama lives and works in Japan.

– Home and studio — together or apart?
The photo shoot takes place outdoors, and for small tasks, I use a large desk in a room at home. A few years ago, this room was a darkroom where I carried out my photo development work.

– Do you have any daily rituals?
I make juice for my husband and myself using carrots and seasonal citrus fruits. I glance through the newspaper. I turn on the TV with the sound off.

– What is the first art book you remember?
In my mid-teens, I didn’t know that being a photographer was a profession, but I would look at the photo spreads in Sekai, a magazine published by Iwanami Shoten, which my father subscribed to. There, I saw the works of Hamaya Hiroshi, Higashimatsu Shomei, and Nagano Shigeichi—artists I would later come to deeply respect.
I loved Hamaya Hiroshi’s Kodomo Fudoki, and through Ikari to Kanashimi no Kiroku, which documented the anti-U.S.-Japan Security Treaty protests of the 1960s, I realized the powerful impact photography could have. That impression was engraved in my mind.

– What is your studio/creative soundtrack?
In the 1970s, I listened endlessly to Chick Corea’s piano solo Piano Improvisations Vol.1. For the past few years, I’ve been listening to it non-stop again.

– What is the favorite thing you have in your studio?
My workspace holds only the essentials, but I love the everyday tableware in my living room. I particularly cherish the old Imari porcelain and late Edo-period pieces left behind by my sister, who was a cook, as well as the earthenware I picked up while traveling. I use them daily with great fondness.

– Did you always want to be an artist?
I occasionally won awards for my drawings, but even though I visited the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki and traveled to Kyoto to see a Louvre exhibition when I was in middle school, I considered art something to be appreciated rather than created.
My aspiration was to become financially independent and to work as a “professional” who could contribute to society.

– What does a free day look like?
I take a light camera, stroll through my favorite neighborhoods, peek into shops, wander down alleys… Without necessarily taking photos, I simply stand there, lost in thought.

Books & Objects

• 1960-80