Araki interviewed by Jérôme Sans

"This book displays my life, the women, my wife, and city streets..." - Nobuyoshi Araki

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What do you think of Gilbert & George, with whom you share the notion of accessibility, of art for everyone? Does this stem from your past in advertising?
When I worked at Dentsu, I did ads for others, but I wanted to advertise for myself. That may be called art. I thought it would be fine enough to show my photos to friends. On the other hand, I always had the desire to be known by more and more people. For example, I would like to hear that the iguanas in the Galapagos wished to see my work. Furthermore, I'd like to have them come to Japan by crossing the ocean and being photographed with me. Then I would take them to Yoshiwara.

How many books have you published so far?
More than 250, I guess. At the beginning, I was tired from the countless unproductive meetings with Japanese publishers, so I published my first books myself by photostating them. I used the black and white Photostat machine at Dentsu. My first book, Xeroxed Photography Book was done that way. When I published Sentimental Journey, no publisher wanted to publish a personal honeymoon in those days. Later on, many publishers published my books, like TASCHEN now. Sometimes I take photos and I want to publish the book immediately, like a premature ejaculation. Sometimes I can't even wait for the three-month deadline after the photo shoot. I would like the book to come out in a month, right after the last picture is shot. That's why I did the book The End of the Century myself, to quench my desire for speed. It's a "live" photography book in which the speed and the heat of the shot are still intact. For other books, it's the publisher who turns up the heat.

Photostating technology has evolved a great deal since the 70s. Do you still make photocopy-books?
Today, copying's much too good, it's no longer of any interest. So I do not make them anymore. A photocopy in the 70s was not just mechanical, it was rough and incomplete. They were copies of my feelings, the 70s emotion and self-emotion. Having used the term "copy", I turned towards the word "reproduction". Because photography is the reproduction of feelings during the actual shooting, or the feelings which I shared with some I met then or even the relationships I had then. It is not the expression, or the willingness to represent the feelings of the subjects I was photographing. Through the subject, I make a copy of myself. Thanks to these subjects, I can make "reproductions". Without them, I couldn't. This may also be the case in life, not only for photos. I need subjects. It can be flowers, the sky, and of course, women. Women make me live. I will continue photographing them. If one day women disappear from the planet, I would hope to die well before it happened.

Do you have any projects that have not materialized and that you wish to undertake in the future?
There is nothing that has not materialized. What happens in the future will be decided by my surroundings. The god(dess) called woman shall guide me.

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