Araki's narratives have not been mere stories. They may not be novels - I would avoid that term, but would honesty call them literature. The sequence in this show begins with a wedding photo, and ends with one of Araki wearing his deceased wife's coat and holding her portait, (His wife died at age 42 in 1990). The sequence, apparently, emulates his own style.

Part of Araki's strategy in getting his viewer to read is to present a space, a "landscape" - that lies between the quotidian and the non-quotidian, a space that belongs simultaneously to both times - and to neither. The quotidian was his wife Yoko; the non-quotidian naked (not nude) women. The bizarre appearance of these naked women is an Araki-created fiction, and the landscape consists of both the quotidian and nonquotidian equally suspended within it. If either becomes heavier than the other then the landscape fluctuates drastically. For some time after his wife's death, Araki took photographs of nothing but the sky - a landscape of its own - and later compiled them into a volume called "Skyscapes'. Her death had taken away the quotidian time/space equation from him, and so the quotidian/non-quotidian relation became unbalanced.

Araki's literary orientations do not take each photo as being equivalent to, say, a word, quite the contrary. His is non-verbal literature, and he discovers it beyond - no, inside - photography. It is within photography that the quotidian and non-quotidian are inverted and exchanged as having equal value. Photography does not effect the inversion from outside the relation.

Beings possessing substance exist by chance; they exist only temporarily in time, and have no beginning or end. Hence all things are of equal value, but time creates differences among them. Araki's work is nothing more than manifestation of his obsessive desire to confirm that things substantial or non-substantial, things with or without form, are equal. From the beginning of his career he knew that this obsession would be intruded upon by that small number of photos labelled "Masterpieces" or "Decisive Moments of the Century", by photographs that would expose the obscenity of society in the cause of justice, or even with malicious intent. Araki's own shameless presence in so many of his photographs might also be due to his compelling desire to prove things equal.

Araki's given name, Nobuyoshi, was given to him by a Buddhist monk from a neighbourhood temple; as written in Chinese characters, it has Buddhist associations. His wife's funeral took place at the same temple. He took a photo of Yoko lying in her coffin, which he has shown in exhibitions and published in books. For his audience, who had come to identify her with his quotidian side, this photo seemed either excessively sentimental or too realistic. it was neither. Her death liberated him from his literary obsession in relation to photography, and that is the fundamental essence of Buddhism - liberation from one's obsessions.

For many years now Araki has used an automatic compact camera (fool-proof, simple to use) with a date-imprinting function. He always carries it around with him, constantly shooting almost everything he sees and everyone he meets, like a young bay with his first camera who has just fallen-in love with photography. Language-wise, like a verbal machine-gun, he constantly shouts out words (Japanese only), almost to the degree of abusing language. He does this in order to compose a fiction of the non-quotidian. Closely considered, I have to say that this verbal assault is not so much an attempt to anesthetize his subjects, as it is almost a method of taking photographs with words. But when he shoots his landscapes, I imagine him in silence.

An automatic camera with a date-imprinting function, a flood of words, silence and solitude - Araki manipulates all of these in every possible combination. Photography has never been a tool or medium for him. For twenty-five years he has been trying to confirm something within photography. Photography, for him, was neither a mere instrument nor a means towards an end; he has always only wanted to know if photography can depict substantial beings at all.


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1940 Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo.

1959 - 1963 studied Photography and Filmmaking at Chiba University, Tokyo; his graduation work is a 30 minutes film called Children living in Apartments; his influences are Italian Neo-Realist and French NouvelleVague-Films; his favourite directors are Cari Theodor Dreyer and Robert Bresson, he is especially impressed by Jean-Luc Godard's "A bout de souft7e'. A still photo from his graduation film later becomes the basis of a photographic work, Satchin.

1963 he enters Dentsu Advertising. While taking commercial photos, he also uses the company's equipment and studio facilities for his own work, as well as taking photos of the company's female employees.

1964 N. A. wins "The Sun Magazine's' photo contest for Satchin. He publishes BGs (Business Girls) on the Subway in "Camera Art' magazine, and Middle-aged Women in "Japan Camera' magazine.

1965 N.A. has his first one-man show, Satchin and His Brother Mabo, Shinjuku Station Building. After seeing Dreyer's "La passion de Jeanne darc' he puts together four scrapbooks of photos of a prostitute named Gemi into a volume and calls it Gemi:La passion de Jeanne d'Arc, later he produces a sequel (from nine scrapbooks) called Gemi the Whore. Both works were thought lost until color transparencies were recently found, the first was published as Jeanne in 1997.

1968 N. A. meets Yoko Aoki, who will later become his wife. He begins to make xeroxed single edition collections of photos. He also becomes aware of his photographic contemporaries such as Daido Moriyamc and Kishin Shinoyama.

1970 his dedication to photography is more certain, he calls this 'The First Year of Araki'. He makes xeroxes of his photos and assembles them into books, sending them to friends, art critics and people selected randomly from the telephone books. There were 25 such volumes, each limited to 70 copies. In April he holds an exhibition called Sur-sentimentalist Manifesto No. 2: The Truth about Carmen Marie (the name of a popular singer of the time). The photos were enlargements of women's genitals. (With these photos) a new era in photography had begun. Our First job was to expose those areas that had been thought of as being shameful. We couldn't afford to be lazy about this - we had to see clearly.' (N. A., "Tsukuru' magazine, Feb. 197,4). N. A. begins his regular and frequent Kitchen Ramen Ero-realism exhibits at a noodle shop in Ginza, Tokyo. These shows consist of photos of nudes covering the walls of the shop. The exhibits continue until 1976.

1971 'Realism is reality; that's wonderful, impressive. I bow down before it and turn myself into a copying machine. Photos are just copies of reality; that is the only truth.' (N. A. in "Biiutsu Techo", Sept. 7977). N. A. and Yoko marry. During the wedding reception, a slide show of Yoko nude is presented. "All of my relatives became quiet during the slide-show; they were so shocked they didn't know how to react. One even became ill. " (Yoko in:'My Love Life", 7985.). N. A. privately publishes a record of their honeymoon, Sentimental Journey. 7his "Sentimental Journey' is a declaration of my love, my position as a photographer. I am not saying that the photos are true just because they were taken on my honeymoon. I regard this work as my photographic beginning. I am a photographer in love, and it just happens that this coincides with the beginning of my novel.' (N. A., from the Preface).

1972 N.A. quits Dentsu. With his pension fund savings he buys a 6 x 7 Asahi Pentax. During this time he 'exhibits' photos by mailing prints to friends.

1973 he begins to formulate his idea of a Tokyomonogatari (Tokyo Story). As a year-end- present he gives his friends a copy of the "Asahi Journal", in which he pastes his photos, calling them Araki's Scenic Photo Collection, August 15. The date is the anniversary of the end of World War II, and the magazine features an article called "Thirty Years After the War.. An Analysis of the General Election'.

1974 The Photo Workshop School is formed with N. A., Shomei Tomatsu, Daido Moriyama, Eiko Hosoe, Mosohiso Fukase and Noriaki Yokosuka. In July his mother dies. 'Seeing my mother's face surrounded by the flowers her children had placed around her, and touching her cold Cheek, I was sorry I hadn't brought my camera. It seemed to be the first time I had seen such an expression on her Face. This was beyond reality, something actual and true was here, a total deathscape. As a second-rate photographer, I wanted to take a photo of her face. I kept looking at her. My body acted as a camera and I kept pressing the shutter.' (N. A., "Photo Workshop' magazine, Sept. 7 97,4).

1976 The Photo Workshop School closes; in April, N. A. opens Araki's Private Photo School, with about ten students. N. A. meets Akira Suei, editor of the porno magazine "New Self'. In the following years he will work closely together with him. N. A. begins publishing a series called images of Violence: Actresses.

1977 N.A. begins two series in 'Weekend Super' magazine: Actresses, and Pseudo-Reportage.

1978 N.A. and Yoko move to an apartment in western Tokyo. N. A. begins even more series in magazines: A Sentimental Journey in Pursuit of Women; Photo-Novel: A Senti-Roman; Scenic Views of Tokyo; Girlfriends; lovers, and more. 'You begin by taking photos of the things you love,. then you just continue taking photos.' (N. A., 1978).

1979 N.A. travels to New York for the opening of ICP. He begins a new series of bondage shots for "SM Sniper' magazine.

1980 N.A. works as the still photographer for Seiun Suzuki's film "Zigeunerweisen'. With saxophonist Akira Sakata he presents his Arakism Declaration, a slide-show, recital, talks etc. at the New York Theater in Tokyo (The tide combines 'Araki, 'anarchy' and SM). He shows the exhibition Pseudo-photo and Recent Photo, both are oneday shows held in a friend's apartment, For his show Wet Dreams on a Summer Night and the End of the War, he shows photos of nudes, the captions are the dates of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the date of Japan's surrender.

1981 N. A. works on his first released film, Pseudodiary: High School Girls. For the Japan edition of "Playboy' magazine he photographs prostitutes in New York, Mexico City, and elsewhere. In November, he holds the Second Arakism Declaration, another slide show, concert and symposium.

1982 N.A. begins a new series in the Japan edition of "Playboy' magazine, it runs For five issues until the publisher asks that it be discontinued. Dadaish Araki! a photo collection on videodisc is released from Pony Video. He directs a video, Video Love Declaration: The Actress Y's Private Life. In December.. Third Arakism Declaration.

1983 For "Playboy' magazine he lists his favourite photographers (Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Man Ray, e.g.). For "Camera Mainichi' magazine, he begins a series Photography, My Greatest Passion, but after four issues one of the magazine's advertisers complains and the series is withdrawn. Video Love Magazine No. 1 is released by Toei Geino Video in June, in September follows No. 2, entitled The Bareness of Love.

1984 N.A. privately publishes Nostalgic Nights as a wedding anniversary gift to Yoko, and includes her short story 'Novel'. The photos were inspired after seeing Andrei Tarkowsky's Film "Nostaighia'.

1985 "Love Life' by Yoko is published on their wedding anniversary.

1986 in December Arakinema: Tokyo-monogatari, a slide-show is shown at Cinema Rise. 'You would see Araki's neighbourhood, his studio, love hotels, nude women and then back to his neighbourhood. This isn't a show by Araki - it is as if someone else had directed it, or it's an image of another world, of the river between life and death, where things are very, very clear.' (Akira Suei, 'Yasei Jidai' magazine, March 1987).

1987 Arakinema 2. N. A. begins a new series, Hokeitei Nichijo, an allusion to Kafu Nagai's diary. In Raptures, another anniversary volume is published in collaboration with Yoko.

1988 The police order "Photo Age' to withdraw all copies of its April issue because of obscenity. in the literary magazine, "Yasei Jidai' N. A. publishes Photo Novel: Tokyo-monogatari in honour of the film director Yasuiiro Ozu. 'For me, a photo is a story, and the camera is a story, and action in a photograph is a story. Whether you have one photo or a sequence of photos, you already begin with a story.' (N. A. in "is' magazine, Dec. 1988.) He opens the AaT Room, another office, with his colleagues N. Ansai and S. Tamiya.

1989 Chiro, a cat, comes to live with the Arakis. The Arakis begin a new series together in the July edition of "Shiso no Kagaku' magazine, called Beautiful Tokyo Days. However, the work is suspended after three issues due to Yoko's hospitalization for myome of the uterus. In August, N. A. meets Robert Frank. The book Tokyomonogatori is published. 'I wonder why the words 'Tokyo' or 'story' appear so often in my tides. I was born and raised here. I love Tokyo. Tokyo is a story in itself. Tokyo is photography'. (N. A.)

1990 January 27, 17 a.m. Death of Yoko Araki, aged 42. Her funeral is held at Jokan Temple. N. A. wins the Annual Award of the Photographic Society of Japan. In April, 'A Pep Rally for Araki' is held after an Arakinema screening of Skyscapes. N. A.'s paintings, called Heisei Women, begin to be serialized in "City Road' magazine. The first picture is of Yoko. (Heisei' is the current emperor's regnal name and name of the current era). N. A. participates in NHK-TVs programm "The Future of Photography' hosted by Kishin Shinoyama. N. A. is still photographer For Seijun Suzuki's him 'Yumeii'. In October, he begins exhibiting Three Photos per Month in the cafe on the first floor of the building where AaT Room office is located.

1991 In a dialogue printed in the February edition of "Nami' magazine, N. A. and Kishin Shinoyama have a major confrontation over Sentimentaru na tabi / Fuyu no tabi (Sentimental Journey. Winter Journey). Shinoyama accuses N. A. of abusing Yoko's memory by publishing photos of her hospitalization and funeral, and thereby appealing to the audience's pity. He says the photos are too painfully real N. A. responds that they are honest. The relationship between the two former friends is ruptured. In spring, a number of new books appear. N. A. receives the Domestic Photographer's Award at the Seventh Hishikawa International Photo FestivaL Two magazine issues are devoted to N. A., and he appears in TV programmes.

1992 since the beginning of this year, three books have been published; Shikikei (Colorscapes) is the first publication exclusively devoted to N. A.'s color photography. N. A.'s exhibition Photomania Diary at the Egg Gallery is closed down by the police, and 8 of the slides exhibited are confiscated. Araki and his two assistants are charged with disorderly conduct.


*compiled by Akihito Yosumi for the publication "Kukei, Kinkei' (Laments: Skyscapes / From Close Range, 7 99 7; edited).