Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective
From Letter to St-Loup, 1990. © Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.
Written by: Joe Cuccio
In the short, but rich, history of photography, there are few more influential figures than Daido Moriyama. Moriyama has been working tirelessly since the 1960s to challenge what photography is. He helped the medium see that there can be more grit, rawness, and honesty in an engagement with making images. His photographs highlight an unpretentious and accessible feeling as his approach to image making allows for everything and everything to catch your eye. The way he engages with photography is focused on his awareness of his surroundings and his ability to quickly respond to the world he exists within. The images he makes are radical and grainy, matching the feeling of post-war Japan as it intersects with tradition and fierce influence from Western civilizations.
Top: Harumi, Chūō, Tokyo, 1970. Weekly Playboy, Oct 1970 © Daido Moriyama/Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.
Bottom: Yokosuka, 1970 © Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.
Daido is a master of the streets. Throughout his life, wherever he goes, he walks looking for imagery. He brings with it not an explicit attention to capturing moments, but rather the emotional qualities that the streets can offer. He deploys the use of blurry and out-of-focus images to point to a visceral reaction he had in the moment of creating. There is always a clear sense that Moriyama was so intensely enamored by reality that he could not help but immediately react. When you look at his photographs from his long and historic career, you can see that he never flinched. He remained attentive and excited by the world around him. He also used his radical photography to help carry along massive movements in photo history. His involvement with Provoke Magazine brought to light an aesthetic that many are fascinated by today. His images brought honesty to the world of photography, for he was never trying to create the perfect image, but rather allowing for the relentless act of engaging with the world to contribute to his legacy.
Male actor playing a woman, Tokyo, 1966. From Japan, a Photo Theater. © Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.
His passion for both reproduction and the easy accessibility to materials shine through his images, as people feel any can take a blurred or out-of-focus image. When people attempt to mimic Moriyama they understand because of the time, consideration, and dedication he put in they are remiss in saying what he did was easy. He has a deeply calculated awareness of minute details and compositional tactics that throw viewers for a loop. He can quickly compose and create astounding frames in the blink of an eye. Moriyama is in a league of his own and this retrospective is well deserved.
Kanagawa, 1967. From A Hunter. © Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.
Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective will be on view at The Photographer’s Gallery in London until February 11th.
