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NOBUYOSHI ARAKI - PART 1INTERVIEW AND PORTRAIT BY TOMOKAZU KOSUGA TRANSLATED BY LENA OISHI  There lives in Japan a relentless monster who has released 450 photo books—and still continues to take photographs every day. His name is Nobuyoshi Araki. Those of you who don’t know much about him might, after a cursory glance, see nothing more than a horny old man. And yes, sure, at times his themes are super-erotic, and that’s not only when he shoots women. He can make anything look sexy. Who else can make a photo of the ground look so much like a vagina that you start to seriously consider jerking off to it? Nobody but Araki. There are a quintillion photographers in the world, but none have lived and breathed photography like Araki, who is constantly producing work and at times releases as many as 20 books a year—an accomplishment that can be achieved because of his perpetual focus on everyday life. Not only that, he writes books on photography. His magic words render his images all the more potent. Unfortunately, most of his books have only been published in Japanese, and we can’t read Japanese. That’s why we sent Tomo from Vice Japan to talk to Araki. Sick of being interviewed countless times throughout his career, Araki tried to demolish him from the very beginning. But Tomo hadn’t cut classes in university to read the entire collection of Araki’s books in the school library for nothing. And so an unprecedented battle of wills over photography began... Vice: Today I want to ask you about your photographs. Nobuyoshi Araki: Look, if you want to know about my photos just read a book or something. You writers all end up asking the same damn questions over and over. What exactly is it that you want to know? OK, well, why don’t you start by telling me about the first time you picked up a camera... No, no, no, forget it! Let’s just forget about this whole thing. I’m leaving. Why don’t you just go and watch some TV or something—don’t bother me. I’m not fucking doing this anymore. You should know all about this crap. It’s so boring. You don’t even ask about my current projects. Don’t fucking ask me about the first time I took a photograph or whatever—it’s pathetic. And I don’t need you to go writing this up in an article for other ignorant people who don’t know me to read either, OK? I don’t give a shit. I’m not interested in money or fame. I’m not looking for that anymore.
That’s such a stupid question, man. Which one do you want to talk about? I have 450 books, for God’s sake. In EROTOS, you made ordinary flowers and cracks in the ground look like male and female genitalia. Why do you think your photos come across as being so erotic? Why do they come across as erotic? Because I shot them. That’s what my photos are. You’re wondering why they look erotic? It is what it is, you know? You’re going to keep asking me these dumb questions and write it up in your little article? Oh, come on, you can do better than that. I’ve been asked the same question a million times, dude. Well, let’s talk about your book Kofuku Shashin [“Happiness Photographs”]. Compared to your old photographs, these were more reminiscent of keepsake portrait pictures that fathers take of their families. It seemed to me like they are crossing a line that was almost taboo in your former photographs. What made you shift your perception so drastically? So you noticed that, eh? You’re not so clueless after all. [laughs] It’s probably because right now, I believe that “happiness is the best state.” That’s all. Rather than shooting something that looks like a professional photograph, I want my work to feel intimate, like someone in the subject’s inner circle shot them. Now that I’m older, I can finally say that happiness is truly the best state to be in. It’s so cheesy, right? When you’re young you try to keep a distance from your subject and be really cool about everything, but eventually this is what you come to feel. I also noticed that both professional and amateur photographers have stopped shooting these kinds of photos. So I tried doing it myself, and guess what? It’s way more difficult than shooting stuff like EROTOS. With EROTOS you just try to be as horny as possible and it works, but with Kofuku Shashin it’s all about creating a relationship with your subject. It’s just not the same. Right. With this kind of thing there’s the danger of the images ending up like professional portraits, but you didn’t want that. Exactly. Everyone thinks that “art” means taking a step back from something familiar or precious to you. But my stance is “Don’t make a work of art, don’t ‘do’ photography.” That said, with EROTOS the initial concept was to create a book of ultimate photographs, where the audience is forced to understand the photos without any text whatsoever. I’m not saying that it was bad or that it was a mistake. It’s not about one being better than the other, it’s just that in terms of where I’m at now, the notion of Kofuku Shashin appeals to me more. I guess I’ve aged or wised up or something. [laughs] Not that I’m ever giving up my eroticism. Once you give that up, you lose the strength to live. Anyway, when you compare the two books it’s hard to believe that it’s the same person behind the camera, the same photographer, right? There’s, like, five Arakis inside of me. Kofuku Shashin consists mostly of snapshots. Do you ask for permission from each person before taking a photo of them in the street? In the past, no one knew me, so I could secretly take snapshots of random people. I can’t do that anymore because they spot me first. That means that I have to communicate with them before taking each photo. But in the end, I think it’s best for both parties, because we both acknowledge one another’s existence. I’d make them laugh and forget about the mundane troubles of yesterday or whatever and try to create our own little time together. And I shoot that moment. That’s far more profound. Of course the spatial relationship that we create for ourselves at that moment is also important, but the time that we share together is far more appealing and precious to me. So to be pedantic, it’s like I frame “time” rather than “space.” That’s what differentiates my photos from the rest of them. And that’s where happiness lies, you know? In the “time” that we spend together. I guess that’s why the expressions of the people in those photographs are so distinct. Sure, because the “happiness photography” that I’m shooting now is all about sharing time and happiness with one another, in the moment. There’s still a bit of self-consciousness there, but that’s all the more reason why I think that capturing an ephemeral smile is far better than shooting a sophisticated portrait. But you once said that “a camera is a penis,” and your stance was all about unleashing that tool onto your subjects. Sure. But now it’s become a cunt, the exact opposite. Now I’m the one that accepts and embraces, just like a vagina. I see. With your Nihonjin no kao [“Faces of Japan”] project, you have been traveling to various prefectures in Japan and shooting the citizens there. I hear that you shoot anyone and everyone who sees the ad and comes along. That’s nothing to be surprised about, though, because the world around us is so magnificent that you can’t help but shoot it all. There’s the phrase “artistic expression,” but I believe that the people truly expressing themselves are the subjects, you know? It’s not about the photographer trying to express stuff. It doesn’t work like that. TO BE CONTINUED NOBUYOSHI ARAKI | 1 | 2 |
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