Category: Japan

Between agitation and lightness, Fusako Kodama depicts the effervescence of modern Japan. In 1960-80, she captures the atmosphere of places and the energy of people. 

Movement, always; disorder, sometimes; gestures, carefree and instinctive: Fusako Kodama captures forward momentum. Her spontaneous photographs summon surprising perspectives where subjects appear slightly out of sync.

Between restlessness and lightness, Fusako Kodama portrays a certain effervescence of modern Japan. In 1960-80, she captures the atmosphere of places, cities, and villages inhabited by animated beings. Through her unusual and spontaneous framing, the prolific photographer casts a gaze both gentle and vibrant over twenty years of Japan.

1960-1980 is the first book by Fusako Kodama published in the West, where she is still very little known. This work aligns with the ongoing efforts of Chose Commune, which contributes to shedding light on contemporary Japanese photographers beyond their country of origin.

Biography

Fusako Kodama (born in 1945 in Japan), studied photography under Seiiji Otsuji with Yasuhiro Ishimoto at the Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo. Her works show the quintessential modernism of Kuwasawa Design, which incorporates Bauhaus education.

78 special edition comprises a first edition book with one of two prints by Issei Suda — each on an edition of 15 — housed together in a handmade slipcase.
The prints have been authentified by the archive and are numbered and stamped on the reverse.

Print size: 20,3 x 20,3 cm
Image size: 19,3 x 19,3 cm

Issei Suda compulsively documents, with a great sense of humour, the daily life he shared with his daughter, wife, and dog.

Between 1991 and 1992, Issei Suda shot compulsively with a Minox camera, which is one of the smallest cameras there is. It is actually so small that it was commonly used for intelligence activities during the war. Issei Suda turned his lens towards the intimacy of his own home, documenting with a great sense of humour the daily life he shared with his daughter, wife and dog. The photographs presented in this book « Family Diary » — a title that Suda chose himself in the 1990s —, have never been published in book form before.

Biography

Issei Suda (born in Tokyo in 1940 and died in 2019),  graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography. He initially worked as a photographer for the Tenjo Sajiki theater company, before becoming an independent photographer.
A photographer of everyday life, the instantaneous, the furtive and the snapshot, he teaches at Tokyo College of Photography and Zokei University in Tokyo, as well as at the Photography Department of Osaka University of the Arts.

Issei Suda presents an almost absurd and automatic parade of Tokyo on Christmas Eve, capturing it with humor tinged with cynicism.

Holy Night presents photographs that Issei Suda took on the night of Christmas Eve 1991 in Tokyo.

« I wonder how many Japanese people actually think of Jesus Christ on Christmas. We just observe Christmas Eve by buying cake and bringing it home to eat; lovers spend it together as the most romantic night of the year. These kinds of customs have become the norm. I could suddenly play the part of the righteous Buddhist and call everyone out on it – You dumbasses, you aren’t even Christians – but it feels like it’d be a waste. » —  Issei Suda

Biography

Issei Suda (born in Tokyo in 1940 and died in 2019) graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography. He initially worked as a photographer for the Tenjo Sajiki theater company, before becoming an independent photographer. A photographer of everyday life, the instantaneous, the furtive and the snapshot, he teaches at Tokyo College of Photography and Zokei University in Tokyo, as well as at the Photography Department of Osaka University of the Arts.

This print is part of a series of 5 prints by women photographers that we have previously published: Mikiko Hara, Clémentine Schneidermann, Moe Suzuki, Irina Rozovsky and Deanna Dikeman.

This print is part of a series of 5 prints by women photographers that we have previously published: Moe Suzuki, Mikiko Hara, Clémentine Schneidermann, Irina Rozovsky and Deanna Dikeman.

Landscapes that are both intimate and spectacular, echoing the art of painting which Toshio Shibata studied. This book is designed as a journey, which literally unfolds, through artificial yet grandiose landscapes.

The book Painting reveals 16 unpublished colour photographs by Toshio Shibata, a Japanese photographer who is known for his rigorous and meticulous compositions. The representation of intimate yet spectacular landscapes — natural, and especially artificial — are at the core of Shibata’s work. In keeping with the tradition of painting that Shibata studied in his early years in 1968, this book celebrates the abstraction of beauty. It has been designed in a concertina format that can also be turned into a suspended object — just like a kakemono, a Japanese unframed scroll painting made on paper or silk and displayed as a wall hanging.

The raw, graphic, and colorful forms characterize Shun Kadohashi’s ceramics. Unearth 001 is the first book about his practice.

Unearth 001 is Shun Kadohashi’s first book. It was published to coincide with aato gallery‘s exhibition Shapes and Paintings. Unearth is a series of books exploring the practice and processes of artists working with ceramics.

Biography

Shun Kadohashi (born in 1985) is a ceramic artist and painter living in Chiba, Japan. He undertook an apprenticeship with the British artist Sandy Brown before returning to Japan and developing his own practice.

The delicate, hand-carved lines characterize Chinoko Sakamoto’s work. She draws inspiration from the organic world and plant-based materials. Unearth 002 is the first book dedicated to her practice.

Unearth 002 is Chinoko Sakamoto’s first book. It was published to coincide with aato gallery‘s exhibition in October 2022. Unearth is a series of books exploring the practice and processes of artists working with ceramics.

Biography

Chinoko Sakamoto (born in 1992) is a Japanese ceramic artist who lives and works in Nagasaki, Japan.

Masako Tomiya is a photographer originally from the region of Aomori, north Japan. She has lived in Tokyo for years, and one day, she received news that her sister and sister-in-law, who live near her hometown, were both pregnant. This news inspired Tomiya’s series Kito, a reflection on identity, family, transmission and the passing of time.

“Kito” means “homeward” in Japanese. Inverted, “toki” takes on a completely different meaning: “time”. In her poetic series, Tomiya plays with this dual sense. Her reflective photographic journey is undertaken with a subtle meditation on nature, and its seasonal transformation, alongside a representation of human life through women. Tomiya stages self-portraits and captures the daily lives of her mother, sisters and new-borns, to explore how her sense of home has altered with time.

I’ve lived my life asking myself
“What am I? What is this world?”
For a long time, I wandered without answers, and before I knew it I was older.
Had time flown by, or was it all a dream resembling a memory?
This story transcends time and meaning and self
by staring down the idea of “myself.”