Time Tunnel Series Vol. 28

Hiroshi Yamazaki Exhibition: “Moving Photos! Static Films!!”
DATES : Mon. May 11 – Fri. June 5, 2009
HOURS : 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and holidays. Admission free.
The “Time Tunnel” series of exhibitions spotlight the early years of designers who currently rank among the renowned leaders of their craft. For this 28th exhibition in the series, we requested the participation of photographer Hiroshi Yamazaki.

Hiroshi Yamazaki began his career as a photographer at the age of 23, in 1969. Initially he did photo shoots for stage productions and magazines, but he gradually lost interest in photography in which photographed subjects themselves assert how they want to be shot, and also in the act of hunting for things to photograph.

And so, Yamazaki began photographing the scenes that unfold outside the windows of his home. Framing his photos in the actual window frame, he explores the medium of photos that come into view by simplifying his method. When a vapor trail appears in the window frame, which always stays the same, the concept of time is etched there, and Yamazaki ascertains that photographs can be found in the circumstances that are presented.

In “HELIOGRAPHY,” Yamazaki’s representative work in which he used long exposures to shoot the sun and ocean—his subjects chosen as “the most primitive forms existing on Earth”—he depicted the path of the sun, a world invisible to the naked eye. Yamazaki also shoots cherry blossoms, objects that have special meaning for the Japanese people. Cherry blossoms photographed with the sun serving as catalyst brilliantly betray the preconceived notion of what cherry blossoms are supposed to be. In addition to his photography work, Yamazaki also continues to shoot films, and these realms influence each other, elevating both to unique heights in thought and expression.

The works of Yamazaki, who believes that the smallest elements that constitute a photograph are the axes of light and time, sometimes give the impression of being inscrutable. Yet what underlies his photos is his conviction that “simple is best”; using a camera as his tool, he has sought to “photograph” by a method no one has ever attempted, resulting in the creation of new expressions.

This exhibition will introduce Hiroshi Yamazaki’s photographs and films from his early works (1969-1974) up to the present, with a focus on his representative work “HELIOGRAPHY” as well as “HORIZON” and “Cherry Tree.”