Firefly / Firefly (Signed)

A photobook by Yoshio Mizoguchi. This is his first collection of works, compiling portraits of women taken over 35 years, based on the series "Firefly" which received the 27th Taiyo Award Runner-up Prize in 1990.

The book features women Mizoguchi met and photographed across Japan from the 1980s to the 2000s. They are people in their daily lives, people heading somewhere, people looking directly at the camera, and people who, in a fleeting moment, remain within the frame. Rather than elaborate staging, each individual is depicted in a way that captures the atmosphere and time that presented itself on the spot.

In his afterword, Mizoguchi likens women to fireflies, stating, "I wanted to capture new fireflies with a camera, a firefly catcher." This conveys a sense of attempting to preserve in photographs what is unreachable, what quickly vanishes, yet what undeniably glowed before his eyes.

Instead of relying on nudity or overt expressions, a subtle sensuality and the flow of time emerge from the subjects' expressions, body movements, the way light falls, and the surrounding atmosphere. This book is a compilation of fragments photographed over a long period, woven together as a personal record.

[Title] ホタル / Firefly
[Publisher] Sohkyusha
[Publication Date] 2013
[Page Count] 126 pages (121 works included)
[Size] Approx. 305*230mm
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese, English
[Title Reading] HOTARU
[Author/Editor, etc.] Yoshio Mizoguchi / Author, Michitaka Ota / Editor, Akihiko Tsukamoto / Book Design, Nobumi Akagawa / Book Design
[Printing] San-M Color / Printing & Binding
[ISBN] -
[Condition] Used [9] Excellent
[Accessories] -
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Yoshio Mizoguchi -

Born in Hachioji, Tokyo. Photographer.

Began photography self-taught in 1970. In 1990, the series "Firefly" received the 27th Taiyo Award Runner-up Prize. Also active as a member of the photography collective "Baku," photographing people, towns, and the atmosphere of cities.

His first photobook, "Firefly," was published by Sohkyusha in 2013. Subsequently, "Kusa Niou Hibi" was published in 2017, "Kuruoshii Miyako Tokyo" in 2022, and "Obi to Suna Kyoto/Enoshima" in 2024.

His major works include "Firefly," "Kusa Niou Hibi," "Kuruoshii Miyako Tokyo," and "Obi to Suna Kyoto/Enoshima."

His major awards include the 27th Taiyo Award Runner-up Prize (1990).

Major collections -

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