This is the first full-scale retrospective of Takuma Nakahira (1938-2015), a photographer whose influence on the art form is increasingly recognised the world over. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Nakahira was a member of the collective that produced Provoke, a magazine whose brief lifespan belies its lasting impact: the publication popularised the are, bure, bokeh (‘rough, blurred and out-of-focus’) black-and-white aesthetic still embraced by photographers today.
As this exhibition demonstrates through around 400 pieces, Nakahira’s work went on to question the act of photography itself from an intellectual standpoint. This was followed by a curious form of artistic reinvention, prompted by memory loss resulting from illness the photographer suffered in the late 1970s. From then on, Nakahira used vivid colour photography as a means of piecing back together the fragments of memory at home in Yokohama, and in far-off Okinawa.
This exhibition is closed on Monday, except March 25. Entry ticket includes admission to the MOMAT Collection and 'New Acquisition & Special Display: Germaine Richier, The Ant'.
Text by Darren Gore