Statement by the photographer, Tamiko NISHIMURA
"The weather changed often, with strong winds, sunshine, clouds, and rain. I was strongly attracted by the how the light shined, by the smell of flowers, and just by the atmosphere of the place, rather than what I actually saw. Even if I walk through the same place every day, each walk would be different, depen-ding on who I meet or how the light shines. It is not particularly about visiting somewhere new. Still, while watching foreign ships in Kobe Port I dreamed of one day sailing in one to a country I’ve never been to before." (© Tamiko NISHIMURA)
Background information
"To accompany the exhibition 'Shikishima' the gallery published this reprint of the 1973 edition of 'Shikishima', accompanied by a supplement composed of unpublished photographs, and english translations of the original text and a newly written text by Tamiko NISHIMURA." (© Zen Gallery, 2014)
"Tamiko NISHIMURA was Daido MORIYAMA's assistant in the early 1970's, at the time he was making some of his greatest work and was a leading light in the so-called 'Provoke school'. But TamikoNISHIMURA was also a formidable photographer in her own right, as can be discerned her book 'Shikishoma', published in 1973, one year after MORIYAMA's great masterpiece, 'Bye Bye Photography'." (© PARR/BADGER, Vol.III)
Content
"Tamiko NISHIMURA’s road trip photo volume contains a series of blurry and slightly out of focus photographs shot from train and bus windows, this book is distinctive for its feminine perspective in an era when very few photo books by women were published. Rather than the late night after-hour club and bar patron portraits that are the mainstay of many Japanese male photographers of the period, 'Shikishima' is more akin to Masahisa FUKASE’s 'Kurasu / Ravens' (1986). It is a sensitive book comprised of poetic images – many resulting from transitory sightings – by a young woman traveling alone in her native Japan from 1969 to 1973. A quiet book that lingers, it is heartening news that Tamiko NISHIMURA’s images will soon have a chance to reach a larger Western audience, and open up yet another little known corner of Japanese photography and photobooks." (© Russet Lederman, ICP)
About the Japanese photographer, Tamiko NISHIMURA
Photo books by Tamiko NISHIMURA
- Format
- Re-edit, two slipcased pb., 22 x 28,5 x 2 cm., 112 pp. (+ 36 pp. supplement), b/w ills., Ltd. to 700 copies