Scissorings (with obi)

Koichi Miyazaki
Scissorings (with obi)

Photographs: Koichi Miyazaki

Text: Shinichi Kusamori

Publisher: Shicho Sha

113 pages

Year: 1968

Comments: Softcover in a cardboard slipcase and obi. First edition, 1968. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies. In excellent condition other than the slipcase a bit yellowed and some tears on the obi (this one has been repaired). Scarce and collectible copy.

In the 1960s, he published a collection of photographs based on newspaper and magazine clippings and television images, and this is his first book. This book is said to be the forerunner of 'found photography', and it is a 'new world' that can be seen by detaching the 'background' of newspaper and magazine illustrations, which used to have a 'meaning' such as 'capturing the truth', 'recording' or 'adding captions', and looking at the illustrations in a flat manner.

Extracts from newspaper articles written between 1962 and 1967. The pictures reveal the American grip on Japan in general, and on its culture and habits in particular (for instance, we can see images of sports such as baseball).

The photographic act is replaced here by the cutting of the image giving it its own framing.

Miyazaki Koichi made these pictures his own to question their meaning and not without implying political issues.