History classes do not always tell every part of the story. Photography can help fill in the gaps.
Showcasing 87 works from 19 different Japanese photographers from the decades following World War II, “Farewell Photography: The Hitachi Collection of Postwar Japanese Photographs” expands on the history behind the modern rules of photojournalism.
“They were all crossing against the norm and challenging what was expected at the time as classical photography,” said Audrey Sands, curator of the Phoenix Art Museum. “They were in essence, rule breakers.”
The Phoenix Art Museum is known for showcasing different points of view on historical events. Its newest collection is no different.
“The Hitachi Collection” features a group of post-war era photographs that undertook an unconventional aesthetic on photojournalism.
Named radical photographers by historians, these artists decided to go outside of what was expected from their work and challenge themselves to evolve outside of the norm of objective photography, which left no room for feelings or creative expression.
Some of the artists featured in the exhibit are Daidō Moriyama, Masahisa Fukase, Shōmei Tōmatsu, Miyako Ishiuchi and Eikoh Hosoe.
Sands said this collection is known to be one of the “leading collections of photography worldwide.”
The collection was acquired between 1988 and 1990 by the Center for Creative Photography (CCP), a research facility and archival repository, where it stayed under constant care. That was until 2019, when Sands realized the importance of sharing these photographs with the community – and so the idea of creating an exhibition began.
“This isn’t a representation of Japanese culture, I know. But it does show what we’ve added to modern society,” said Paulina Yee, a Japanese first-generation business student at the University of Arizona, who visited the exhibit. “I feel it tells the same story from a different perspective, one that is not always told.”
Sands said Phoenix Art Museum’s newest exhibit is dedicated to showcasing unrepresented photographers. Because of the lack of representation of photography in the art world, the museum looks to diversify its visitors’ knowledge of the history of photography.
“I had the chance to spend time with the collection and get to know it,” Sands said. “I felt it had the attention, but we needed to share it with the Arizona community.”
Because of the CCP, the collection was able to form part of another exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum, allowing viewers to have an immersive experience from a non-Eurocentric perspective.
“Is important to the history of photography, because that container has to be opened up to our visitors,” Sands said. “Lots of that narrative is centered around England, France, Germany and America — and that is sort of the history of photography that is taught in schools.”
Sean Key, a college senior majoring in graphic design at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, was visiting the museum during his vacation and felt there should be more focus on these types of exhibits since they “show a new side and create a wider look on what history really looks like.”
“The idea that something so insignificant, like changing a photographic technique in the past has such a powerful effect in our present, makes you wonder if there’s more you could be doing,” Key said.
The collection portrays the beginning of experimentation with “are-bure-boke” photography, which translates to “rough, blurred and out-of-focus” photography, according to the Phoenix Art Museum.
By publishing this work, the photographers were aiming to challenge their viewers and question how photography was used to make “claims of truth, to shape national identity, and to convey patriotism,” according to the Center for Creative Photography.
In her last exhibit as a curator for the Phoenix Art Museum, Sands hopes that the collection might inspire future generations to “push the norms on the status quo.”
“This creates an opportunity for viewers to see the aesthetic and political advances that can come from taking risks in all areas,” Sands said.
Reach the reporter at avzaval2@asu.edu.
