Studio Equis

Selected Works

A selection of images from the exhibition are available here

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Eyes of an Island, Japanese Photography 1945-2007

4 October - 10 December 2007

Concept
A major exhibition of influential Japanese photography dating from 1945 to the present day, Eyes of an Island brings together some of the most important and iconic images by recognised masters including Shomei Tomatsu, Daido Moriyama, Hiroshi Hamaya, Shigeichi Nagano, Hiromi Tsuchida, and Eikoh Hosoe, with recent work by contemporary photographers including Toshio Shibata, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ryuji Miyamoto, Naoya Hatakeyama and Nobuyoshi Araki.

This survey of the leading Japanese photographers of the last 50 years shows the incredible diversity of photographic approaches during this period. The exhibition charts three stages of development in this period of Japanese photography: from post-war documentary bearing witness to the destruction of war; turning inward to personal and subjective interpretations of the rapid changes in Japanese society; to a contemporary movement which consistently pushes the boundaries of the photographic medium. These photographers illustrate the diversity and virtuosity of the unique Japanese visual language.

What binds them is their common engagement with the question of the Japanese identity in the tumultuous years since the end of the Second World War. In their search to answer, or even to reframe, this question these photographers have in turn questioned photography’s role and consistently pushed the medium onto new ground. The results of their photographic explorations not only give us a rich insight into a nation often difficult to apprehend for outsiders, but are also a fascinating and complex study of the evolution of photography in Japan across several generations.

Photographers
Studio Equis contributed the work of the following photographers to Eyes of an Island: Hiroshi Hamaya, Eikoh Hosoe, Koichiro Kurita, Shigeichi Nagano, Toshio Shibata, Takeyoshi Tanuma, Shomei Tomatsu, Hiromi Tsuchida and Shoji Ueda.

Calendar
The exhibition was held at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London from 4 October to 10 December 2007.

Catalogue
Eyes of an Island (Studio Equis and Guiding Light, 2007).