NOBUYOSHI ARAKI - SILENT WISHES

JUNE 18 – AUGUST 29, 2010
HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The exhibition of works by Nobuyoshi Araki (b. 1940), »Silent Wishes«, staged in collaboration with Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, includes some 150 black & white photographs.
The works exhibited focus on the early photographs by the young, still unknown Araki, which were taken from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. There are also examples of his later work that address the calm, erotic Tokyo beyond the hectic business facade.

The heart of the exhibition is the intimate series »My Wife Yoko« from the Museum der Moderne collection, describing and revolving around the artist’s young wife on their honeymoon, in their home, and on excursions nearby. These works are complemented by a series of 12 photographs from 1989/1990, with which Araki accompanied his wife during her fatal illness: »Winter Journey« tells the moving story of  bidding farewell. More recent photographs show the photographer Araki as he became world famous: as the narrator of erotic scenes and portraits of females.
 
Araki was born in 1940 in Tokyo, where he still lives and works. Ever since the first meeting with his future wife Yoko Aoki in 1967 she became his favorite model and the motif for his photographic research. The documentation of their honeymoon became one of Araki’s most important photo series, appearing as a publication entitled »Sentimental Journey«. Following his wife’s death in January 1990 the horrifying experience of death flowed more strongly into his works, expressing itself in scenes and motifs, which beneath the surface address the threat posed by death and violence.

Back in 1998 Deichtorhallen showcased a selection of Araki’s works entitled »Tokyo – Markt der Gefühle« (Tokyo – Market of Feelings). The forthcoming exhibition will also underscore the important standing of Japanese artists in photography, several of whom have previously been on display in Deichtorhallen (Japanese Photography, 2002/2003; Kiyoshi Suzuki, 2008/2009).