Signed, Nobuyoshi Araki - Kuji - 2005

Kuji

Signed, Nobuyoshi Araki
Switch Publishing/2005/Japanese/188*238*15

Nobuyoshi Araki's Photobook: ‘Empty Matters - Diary of a Photomaniac 2004’. This volume consists of snapshots taken throughout the year 2004. The “Diary of a Photographic Maniac” series, ongoing since the 1990s, features subjects from Araki's personal life: paths he walked, landscapes he encountered, female nudes photographed for work, famous people he met, and his beloved cat Chiro. However, the predominant subject in this book is the sky. While depictions of the sky continued for some time after the death of his wife, Yoko, the loss depicted in this book is that of the poet, Minori Miyata. In 2013, Araki received a letter from Miyata, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had her left breast removed at the age of 32. Araki visited Miyata in Shizuoka, where she lived, on January 4, 2014. He photographed Miyata twice in Shizuoka—on the coast and beneath cherry blossoms in full bloom—and their connection continued afterward. The bottle of sake on the cover was a gift from her. Miyata's cancer progressed, and she passed away in March 2005 (aged 34). Upon receiving the news of her death, the book was reportedly restructured as a memorial to Miyata. Yet, it remains a sentimental volume, permeated with a sadness somewhat different from Araki's usual tone, featuring many inserted images of empty landscapes that seem to seep with a certain emptiness.