My Journey II. 1968-1989

Tamiko NISHIMURA

Part two of Tamiko Nishimura’s photographic journey through 1960s-80s Japan.

Japanese photographer Tamiko Nishimura has never ceased to travel, and has never stopped documenting her journeys in photographs. Since her first photobook “Shikishima” in 1973, she has continued to develop her own style of snapshot photography, capturing her surroundings, her impressions as well as her personal life in brilliantly composed photographs. In this second volume of snapshots taken between 1968 and 1989, Nishimura, accompanied by her young daughter, takes us with her to Okinawa, Tohoku, Hokkaido, the Joto and Johoku areas of Tokyo, and many other regions in Japan. In each of her photographs, Nishimura manages to weave together layers of stories and moods, creating images that echo both the external as well as her internal world.

“As we walked along the seashore, we saw a solitary lady gathering seaweed on the rocks in the cold wind. She noticed us and gave us some freshly picked seaweed in a plastic bag. After arriving at our accommodation, I asked the owner to add them to our miso soup for dinner. The flavor of the sea was fragrant; I was grateful for its deliciousness.” — from Tamiko Nishimura’s afterword (included in Japanese & English translation)

-Book Size
219 × 250 × 13 mm
-Pages
156 pages, 106 images
-Binding
Softcover
-Publication Year
2020
-Language
English, Japanese
-Limited Edition
700
-ISBN
978-4-905453-99-4

Artist Profile

Tamiko NISHIMURA

Born in 1948 in Tokyo, Nishimura graduated from Tokyo Photography College (current Tokyo Visual Arts) in 1969. Her graduation work was a photography series of Jōkyō Gekijo (Situation Theatre), forefront of the underground theatre movement led by Jūrō Kara. After her graduation, she met Daido Moriyama, Kōji Taki and Takuma Nakahira, three highly influential members of the Provoke movement. She assisted them in the darkroom from time to time up between 1969 and 1970, while she continued her personal shooting on her travels. Later in 1973, Nishimura made her debut through the first publication “Shikishima” published by Tokyo Photography College, showcasing her photographs taken from 1969 to 1972 on her journeys around Japan including Hokkaidō, Tōhoku, Hokuriku, Kantō, Kansai and Chūgoku regions. She also began to travel to Southeastern Asia and Europe in the 1980s. Nishimura’s language of expression is poetic, spiritual and deeply personal. Looking back on her career, Nishimura describes it as a sequence of journeys, and she continued photographing with her nomadic lifestyle. Her photography, revealing what is beyond a journey, is a manifold portrait of life wherever she encounters.

Her main publications are “Shikishima” (Tokyo Photography College, 1973. Reprinted by Zen Foto Gallery in 2014), “vent calmoso” (Sokyu-sha, 2005), “Existence 1968-69” (graficamag, 2011), “Eternal Chase” (graficamag, 2012), “Kittenish...” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2015), “My Journey” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2018) and “Voyage” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2019), “My Journey II. 1968–1989“ (Zen Foto Gallery, 2019), and “My Journey III. 1993-2022“ (Zen Foto Gallery, 2022). Her works are included in the collection of M+ museum (Hong Kong).

Gallery Exhibitions