Gasho Yamamura - To Plants - 1976

“To Plants”

Gasho Yamamura
Self-Published/1976/Japanese/240*260*10

“To the Plants,” a photo collection by Japanese photographer Masaaki Yamamura. Masaaki Yamamura, a legendary photographer who took his own life in 1987 at the age of 47. He developed an interest in photography as a boy and, while still in high school, had a track record of winning numerous awards in monthly contests such as those held by *Camera Mainichi*. While a student at Nihon University’s College of Art, he published works depicting children playing around “Washington Heights”—a neighborhood in Yoyogi Park where U.S. military personnel and their families lived at the time (the photo book *Children of Washington Heights* was published in 2012). After graduating, he worked as a contract photographer for *Josei Jishin*. From the 1970s onward, he created botanical photographs that made effective use of flash, and in 1979, he was selected to participate in the famous exhibition “Japan: A Self-Portrait” at the ICP, curated by Cornell Capa and Shoji Yamagishi, alongside other renowned photographers. This book is Masaaki Yamamura’s masterpiece, published in 1976 and winner of the Nobuo Ina Award. As mentioned earlier, by shooting with a flash during the day and rendering the background dark, he captures the raw reality of plants. It features a series of unique botanical photographs that are eerie and even seem to border on madness. Limited to 600 copies.