Araki interviewed by Jérôme Sans
"This book displays my life, the women, my wife, and city streets..." - Nobuyoshi Araki
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This is why I take photographs as an intimate diary, and always say that they can be left as they were taken without trying to edit them. Editing is done automatically by the life and era we live in. Which means the moment the photos are placed in the order they were taken, God or whoever else - in my case Shasin, the god of photography - will make it work for me. It would be most dramatic if they were placed in the order they were taken unconsciously. That's how most of my photography books are made. I do not need to think of order. For example, if I wish to have a photo of Chiro here or there, I don't need to think. This image appears quite naturally.
Why do you sometimes put dates on photos?
It is making fun of the fact that I hate completion and completion is no good. If a date is printed on a photo, it can never be sold as a masterpiece. It means these photos are merely what happened on a certain day. That is what counts!
Photography is simply about a day, an instant that is extremely wonderful. Nothing could be greater than an intimate journal. Even in literature, the journal stands on a higher level than a novel. The journal represents life, and the date's photography. Or then, it could be up to the photographer to erase the date. Photography is life!
Is that why you've never stopped taking pictures?
As with life itself, one must continue taking photographs continuously. Just as one continues living, for me taking photographs is living.
Which artists, writers or film directors who used the journal format do you feel close to?
I probably feel closest to the Japanese writer Kafu Nagai (1879-1959), who wrote a novel in 1917 called Danchotei Nichijo. He knew that the facts of daily life were very interesting, and it would be even more wonderful to insert fiction into this daily life. Before him, the premise of a journal was to describe the daily reality. He was the first to break this rule by incorporating a few lies, which gives more charm to an intimate journal. In Danchotei Nichijo, everything is false. But it's much more interesting that way.
I also feel close to the Lithuanian film director Jonas Mekas although he doesn't include dates in his work. Maybe his spirituality is superior to mine. But we have a lot of similarities. My "Minowa" is the womb for me and I think that Lithuania is home for Jonas Mekas. My Minowa does not have good wind anymore and is a ruin while his Lithuania, which may have been paradise, is now a ruin. These are circumstances we share. We both are interested in the city or quarter where we were born. Transfers of places, transfers of time. That's what a diary is about. Transfers. But I don't think about that, I just continue to take photos every day. Moving is living. Punctuating the moves is a journal.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
This is why I take photographs as an intimate diary, and always say that they can be left as they were taken without trying to edit them. Editing is done automatically by the life and era we live in. Which means the moment the photos are placed in the order they were taken, God or whoever else - in my case Shasin, the god of photography - will make it work for me. It would be most dramatic if they were placed in the order they were taken unconsciously. That's how most of my photography books are made. I do not need to think of order. For example, if I wish to have a photo of Chiro here or there, I don't need to think. This image appears quite naturally.
Why do you sometimes put dates on photos?
It is making fun of the fact that I hate completion and completion is no good. If a date is printed on a photo, it can never be sold as a masterpiece. It means these photos are merely what happened on a certain day. That is what counts!
Photography is simply about a day, an instant that is extremely wonderful. Nothing could be greater than an intimate journal. Even in literature, the journal stands on a higher level than a novel. The journal represents life, and the date's photography. Or then, it could be up to the photographer to erase the date. Photography is life!
Is that why you've never stopped taking pictures?
As with life itself, one must continue taking photographs continuously. Just as one continues living, for me taking photographs is living.
Which artists, writers or film directors who used the journal format do you feel close to?
I probably feel closest to the Japanese writer Kafu Nagai (1879-1959), who wrote a novel in 1917 called Danchotei Nichijo. He knew that the facts of daily life were very interesting, and it would be even more wonderful to insert fiction into this daily life. Before him, the premise of a journal was to describe the daily reality. He was the first to break this rule by incorporating a few lies, which gives more charm to an intimate journal. In Danchotei Nichijo, everything is false. But it's much more interesting that way.
I also feel close to the Lithuanian film director Jonas Mekas although he doesn't include dates in his work. Maybe his spirituality is superior to mine. But we have a lot of similarities. My "Minowa" is the womb for me and I think that Lithuania is home for Jonas Mekas. My Minowa does not have good wind anymore and is a ruin while his Lithuania, which may have been paradise, is now a ruin. These are circumstances we share. We both are interested in the city or quarter where we were born. Transfers of places, transfers of time. That's what a diary is about. Transfers. But I don't think about that, I just continue to take photos every day. Moving is living. Punctuating the moves is a journal.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Araki
Hardcover, 34.5 x 50 cm (13.6 x 19.7 in.), 636 pages
$ 4000.00
$ 4000.00
The ultimate retrospective collection of Araki's work. Limited edition of 2,500 copies worldwide, each numbered and signed by Araki
Photos: Nobuyoshi Araki