TOKYO 1992 (SIGNED)

Daido Moriyama
TOKYO 1992 (SIGNED)

Photographs: Moriyama Daido

Publisher: Akio Nagasawa Publishing

78 pages

Year: 2023

Comments: Softcover, 21,7 x 30,3 cm, b&w photographs. In very good condition. Limited edition of 350 copies. Signed by Daido Moriyama.

The latest series of silkscreened canvas covers that introduces a collection of photographs taken by Moriyama in Tokyo in 1992. All of the back and white images have never been published before.

In 1992, that’s 31 years ago now, I was in my mid 50s. It was around the time when I closed down the private gallery that I had been running on Miyamasuzaka in Shibuya, and relocated to a space near Yotsuya 4-chome crossing. During the years I had my gallery in Shibuya, there were of course many people visiting the place, so I couldn’t just lock the door and go out whenever I wanted. Until at some point, although being a consequence of my own deeds, it was too much and my impatience got the better of me. All I wanted to do was “go out and take photos!” I didn’t care about what or how to shoot, as long as I could jump out into the street and click away with my camera. Just that. As I had photographed every nook and corner of my new Yotsuya neighborhood in no time, I basically had only the Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro areas left to go and explore. The time that followed I spent wandering through the mazes of the city, like a starving dog, like a fish searching for water.

"TOKYO 1992" contains images that were produced under the circumstances described above. This means that, as books that showcase the fruits of my somewhat uncontrollable urge at the time, "Daido hysteric no.4", made in 1993, and "TOKYO 1992", made in 2023, are separated by a rather long period of time.

The countless streets and alleys where this starving dog once prowled around, have changed a lot over time. But as a matter of fact, there is a body odor, a sense of desire to those streets, and a play of lights and shades, that never change much. And the old dog, shaky as he has gotten, is still roaming the streets with the camera in his hand. “Taking photos” is such a cool thing after all!
– from afterwords by Daido Moriyama