Japanese Photography | Panel Discussion on Masahisa Fukase

Thursday 18 May 2017 | 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm | The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House

Speakers:

Michael Hoppen (gallery director)

Jelena Stojkovic (historian, curator, author of Surrealism and Photography in 1930s Japan, forthcoming)

Ivan Vartanian (editor of Japanese Photobooks of the 1960s and ‘70s)

Chair: Prof. Julian Stallabrass (The Courtauld Institute of Art)

 

Consistently hailed as one of the most important photobooks in the history of photography, Ravens by renowned photographer Masahisa Fukase was first published in 1986. A brutal yet beautiful story of love and loss, the haunting series has been interpreted as an ominous allegory for postwar Japan. To celebrate the launch of MACK’s new edition of this feted title, this panel discussion brings together three speakers, chaired by Julian Stallabrass, whose diverse engagements with Japanese photography should lead to a lively conversation surrounding Fukase’s body of work.

Made between 1975 and 1986, Ravens was apparently triggered by a mournful train journey to Fukase’s hometown. The coastal landscapes of Hokkaido serve as the backdrop for his profoundly dark and impressionistic photographs of flocks of crows. MACK’s bilingual facsimile of the first edition contains a new text by the founder of the Masahisa Fukase Archives, Tomo Kosuga. His essay locates Ravens in Fukase’s wider work and life, and is illustrated with numerous recently discovered photographs and drawings.

 

This event is supported by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

Open to all, free admission. No advance booking required

For more information see here

MACK, publisher of Masahisa Fukase’s Ravens, will be exhibiting at Photo London Fair