Today I went to the Daido Moriyama exhibition at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, this gallery space was set around a table in the centre of the room. The table made this space feel more homely, surrounded by bookshelves, this space felt more and more personal as I walked around. This perfectly accompanied the works which are deeply personal to Moriyama.
Moriyama is one of the most influential Japanese photographers, focusing more of the image and the feeling of the moment more than on the camera or the settings. He wwonders the streets with no destination in mind, often going off the beaten track and exploring the places that the rest of the world has forgotten. He shoots every day for his visual diary, collecting images of street scenes, people, architecture and culture. He captures the chaos of city life, strange encounters, mysterious characters, overall showing he truly unique vision of this world, while at the same time documenting the change in culture he experiences through his lifetime. Hoppen stated that he has a “forceful and decisive point of view” and that “Moriyama’s work occupies a unique space between the objective and the subjective, the illusory and the real.” Also discussing his printing; “his darkroom style is very personal, producing a unique chiaroscuro, which employs a high-contrast matrix as its métier.”
Overall I think that the exhibition was inspiring. There is so much passion and excitement within Moriyama’s image you can see what it is that drives him to go out and take pictures everyday. The unpredictable world full of unpredictable people give us an insight into his ever changing life and some of the encounters he has had, making this experience very intermit.
Beth Harvey 