Kazuo Kenmochi - Narcotic Photographic Document - 1963

Narcotic Photographic Document

Kazuo Kenmochi
Inoue Shobo/1963/Japanese/265*190*20/Spine is cracked

Japanese photographer Kenmochi Katsuo's photo collection ‘Narcotic Drugs Fort Documentation’. The book is so highly regarded for its documentation of narcotics that it has become synonymous with the term ‘Kenmochi = Narcotic’, and this early work, published in 1963, is particularly popular. Firstly, there is no other documentary work in the world that covers and describes the current state of narcotics in such detail and with such a mix of photo essays. Secondly, it is not easy, even for the police, to realistically depict the realities of drug trafficking and use, and it is difficult for photographers to do so, but this is what is captured so vividly in this work. Thirdly, the illustrations taken by the photographer and their editing are excellent. The photographer's strong conviction that the social vortex caused by drugs is greater than imagined and that it is the mission of the photographer with a camera to denounce this reality and appeal to society, has led him to continue to depict the reality of the drug scene with a variety of ingenuity and creativity, despite the dangers involved.