Shikishima

Second Edition, 2014. 112 pages.

Books measures 8.5 x 11 inches. Shikishima is a series of photographs taken during 1969–72 on Tamiko Nishimura’s journeys around the Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kanto, Kansai, and Chugoku regions of Japan. Originally published in 1973, this reprint edition of 700 copies was published to accompany the exhibition Shikishima at Zen Foto Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. The book is accompanied by a 32 page supplement publication composed of unpublished photographs, and English translations of the original text, and a newly written text by Tamiko Nishimura. Both volumes are housed in a cardboard slipcase.

Tamiko Nishimura was born in 1948 in Tokyo, and graduated from Tokyo Photography College 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.

Both volumes are Near Fine in Near Fine slipcase. Out of print and uncommon.