DAIDO MORIYAMA 森山大道

“I don't know if individual photographs contain ideas, worlds, history, humanity, beauty, ugliness or nothing at all. I actually do not really care. I just extract and record things around me, without any pretence.”
— Daido Moriyama (Asahi Camera, June 1973 Special Issue)

With a career spanning more than 60 years, Daido Moriyama continues to ask a fundamental question: What is photography? Internationally recognised as one of the greatest street photographers of our times, he also used his camera to interrogate Japanese society and reflect on image circulation and consumption.

Born in Ikeda, Osaka, in 1938, Moriyama grew up in post-war Japan – a period marked by the General Headquarters (GHQ) occupation and also rapid westernisation, industrial and economic growth. During these decades of enforced change, Moriyama envisioned photography as a democratic medium, which he used to address his daily reality as well as the clash of Japanese tradition and western influences. Inspired by American artists such as William Klein and Andy Warhol, he also showed the contradictions of the effervescent capitalist society.

Freshly reimagined for its Kyoto presentation, this retrospective retraces Moriyama’s photography and his conceptual investigations, starting from his works for Japanese magazines, his progressive distrust of photojournalism, his contribution to the Provoke generation, and radical approach epitomised by his photobook Farewell Photography (1972). During this period, he also established a unique aesthetic, famously known as are bure boke (grainy, blurry, out of focus). Books and magazines are central to this exhibition as they were the fertile ground for this photographic production and debates.

In the early 1980s, Moriyama slowly overcame a creative and personal crisis. His subsequent work developed a visual lyricism with which he reflected on his identity, and the definitions of photography, memory and history. From that period on, Moriyama also renewed his interest in street photography, covering hundreds of miles in Japan, New York, Paris, São Paulo, and other cities. Well known for his gritty black and white images, he also embraced colour and digital photography to address our consumerist society. The exhibition ends with Record magazine, a love letter to the cities that Moriyama continues to produce to this day.

Daido Moriyama transformed the way we see photography and the world. He rejected the elitism of art, instead embracing the accessible and reproducible aspects of photography as a democratic contribution to our society.

Text by Thyago Nogueira

This retrospective has the cooperation of Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation, the consultancy of Yutaka Kambayashi, Satoshi Machiguchi and Kazuya Kimura, and the curatorial assistance of Daniele Queiroz (IMS). It was originally presented at Instituto Moreira Salles (São Paulo), C/O Berlin, The Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki), The Photogaphers’ Gallery (London), Photo Elysée (Lausanne), Fotografia Europea Festival (Reggio Emilia) and Foto Arsenal Wien (Vienna). The show is accompanied by a full monograph catalogue published in Portuguese, English and Japanese by IMS, Prestel and Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.