Tamiko Nishimura "Shikishima"　

Dates: February 5 (Wed) — March 1 (Sat), 2014

“Shikishima" is a series of photographs taken during 1969-72 by Tamiko Nishimura on journeys around the regions of Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kanto, Kansai, and Chugoku.

To accompany the exhibition, Zen Foto Gallery has published a reprint of the 1973 edition of "Shikishima", accompanied by a supplement composed of unpublished photographs, and english translations of the original text and a newly written text by Tamiko Nishimura.

"The weather changed often, with strong winds, sunshine, clouds, and rain. I was strongly attracted by the how the light shined, by the smell of flowers, and just by the atmosphere of the place, rather than what I actually saw. Even if I walk through the same place every day, each walk would be different, depending on who I meet or how the light shines. It is not particularly about visiting somewhere new. Still, while watching foreign ships in Kobe Port I dreamed of one day sailing in one to a country I've never been to before."

ーTamiko Nishimura

Box set reproduction of "Shikishima" will be published by Zen Foto Gallery, 2014

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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).

Publications & Prints