Background information
"'In 1961 the first solo exhibition, 'Kill the Pig' by Masahisa FUKASE, was held in Tokyo. The exhibition consisted of two series of photographs: one titled ‘Kill the Pig’ and another series titled ‘Naked’. There was one photograph in the exhibition that seemed very different from the rest, which was of a dead baby. This work was high-contrast and composed of two prints, one a positive, the other a negatieve, two black and white images in reverse, displayed adjacently. This baby was the Japanese photographer and his partner's first child, which had been still-born. In the exhibition, this work was prominently displayed, in a manner that all the other works arose from them. It seems that Masahisa FUKASE attempted to express something about the cruelty of the two poles of life: as a positive and a negative. In other words, the idea that death is an essential part of life, and life of death.
Content
The photo volume by Masahisa FUKASE contains both series, that featured in that exhibition: ‘Kill the Pig’ and ‘Naked’ now assembled as a single volume.
The series ‘Kill the Pig’ featured photographs set in a slaughterhouse in Shibaura, Tokyo. Huge numbers of ravens also congregated there, drawn by the odour of raw meat, as the air resounded eerily with their cries. The series featured photographs in black and white and in colour. The colour shots were mostly reserved for the scenes showing blood and death. 'Naked’ show the Japanese photographer himself and his partner at the time, Yukiyo Kawakami, in various poses.
With this book, 'Kill the Pig', and the essay by Tomo Kosuga, light is cast on the works in the exhibition, which Kosuga considers to represent the starting point in the photographic practice by Masahisa FUKASE, and which for many decades languished in the shadows.
Additional information
The photo volume 'Kill the Pig' by Masahisa FUKASE was released as hardcover is slipcase in a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies with a text by Tomo Kosuga (founder and director of Masahisa Fukase Archives) in Japanese and English." (© M-Editions/Ibasho, 2021)