Tokyo

A photobook by Yasutaka Kojima. This collection, which captures Tokyo in color, is one of a trilogy of urban works alongside New York and Berlin.

From 2008 to 2013, Kojima, based in New York, traveled back and forth between Japan and the US, photographing the city of Tokyo each time. Without losing the fresh perspective he felt upon returning home after a long absence, he documented the urban structures often overlooked in daily life, such as fire escapes, utility poles, power lines, small houses, and densely packed buildings.

While his previous work, "New York," was monochromatic, this book utilizes color. By organizing the complex and chaotic urban space within the camera's frame and transforming it into an orderly composition, Kojima highlights the chaos, density, and unique texture of Tokyo.

Kojima describes urban photography as "capturing the unconscious of the city, that which is outside human awareness, that which humans don't even care about in their daily lives." In this book, he eliminates people and instead focuses on the accumulation of artificial objects such as architecture, roads, signs, and billboards, quietly bringing to light the inherent structure and expression of the city itself.

This book captures the outline of Tokyo from a unique perspective, as Kojima walks through the city and observes its ever-changing form.

[Title] Tokyo
[Publisher] Sokyusha
[Publication Date] November 24, 2015
[Page Count] 64 pages (60 works included)
[Size] Approx. 227 x 263 x 15 mm / 605g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese, English
[Title Reading] Tokyo
[Author/Editor, etc.] Yasutaka Kojima/Author, Michitaka Ohta/Editor, Akihiko Tsukamoto/Binding, Nobumi Akagawa/Binding
[Printing] San-M Color/Printing and Binding
[ISBN] 9784904120583
[Condition] Used [4] Fair to Poor (Book: sunned on spine and edges, minor foxing on all three edges)
[Accessories] -
[Featured In] -
[Related Exhibition] Yasutaka Kojima Photo Exhibition "Tokyo" (Ginza Nikon Salon, 2016)

Yasutaka Kojima (born 1977)

Born in Tokyo. Photographer.

After graduating from Kokugakuin University with a degree in literature, he moved to the United States in 2006. He completed the International Center of Photography (ICP) General Studies Program and received the ICP Director's Scholarship Award during his studies. In 2011, he was a trainee under the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists. In 2012, he was selected for PhotoEspaña "Descubrimiento PhotoEspaña." From 2015 to 2016, he participated in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien residence program in Berlin, Germany.

He continues to create urban series with Tokyo, New York, and Berlin as his themes. He captures the structures and unconsciousness hidden within cities from his unique perspective and exhibits his works both domestically and internationally. In 2022, he received the Hariban Award Grand Prize.

His major works include "Coming back," "NEW YORK," "Tokyo," and "Berlin."

His major awards include the ICP Director's Scholarship Award (2007) and the Hariban Award Grand Prize (2022).

His major collections include the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts.

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