Tamiko Nishimura "Looking Back"
Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographs by Tamiko Nishimura, which will be on display from March 7 (Friday) to April 26 (Saturday), 2025. This exhibition is being held to celebrate the publication of “Looking Back”, our latest publication with Nishimura.
Nishimura is widely regarded as one of the most prominent photographers in the recent global trend of re-evaluating Japanese women photographers. Her early works, such as "Shikishima" and "Eternal Chase", a collection of her works from the 1970s, and her "My Journey" series, a trilogy of her early and recent works, have garnered significant acclaim, particularly abroad. Last year, her works were exhibited at prominent international events such as the Arles International Photo Festival and the T3 Photo Festival Tokyo.
This exhibition will feature a curated selection of unpublished works from 1968 to the 1970s, including vintage prints from the period.
"The photographs in the book Looking Back were selected from about 1,000 photographs I took between 1968 and the 1970s.
During 1968 and 1969, when I was a student at a photography school, I took many photographs of the plays by the Jokyo Gekijo [Situation Theatre], directed by Juro Kara, in a relatively short period of time. I presented the photographs as my graduation project and titled them Existence, which was later published as a photo book in 2011.
In December 1968 I travelled alone to Okinawa before it was returned to Japan. I witnessed the dismemberment of a goat on the beach, stayed with a large family, and when I visited the Koza area, now Okinawa City, I was warned not to enter the American district. These were all unforgettable experiences.
After graduating in the 1970s, I had a lot of time on my hands. I photographed every day and travelled a lot. Looking back, it was the time when I took the most pictures. Perhaps because I had been longing for the north since childhood, I often went to Tohoku, Hokkaido and Hokuriku in winter to experience the snowy season.
In 1973, I published the photo book Shikishima, a compilation of my travel photographs and snapshots of Tokyo I had taken up to that time. Shikishima was made simultaneously by myself, and after 50 years, publishing Looking Back feels like I am travelling back to that time, but it is actually a very different journey.
In April 2024, I went to New York for the first time for my solo exhibition. I shot 12 rolls of film in one week, taking photographs in the car from the apartment I was staying in Brooklyn to the gallery in Manhattan, and walking around near the apartment.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I was taking snapshots at the market in the park near my apartment, thinking that I was doing just the same, fifty years ago."
— Tamiko Nishimura
