Takuma Nakahira: Burn—Overflow

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT), will host Nakahira Takuma: Burn—Overflow, the first major retrospective in nearly twenty years of a legendary photographer who changed Japanese photography from February 6 to April 7, 2024.

Takuma Nakahira (1938–2015) was a photographer who made a significant mark in both production and theory from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, a turning point in postwar Japanese photography. His presence has greatly inspired photographers of his generation, such as Daido Moriyama and Kishin Shinoyama, and has also had a profound influence on succeeding generations, including Takashi Homma. Nakahira’s career is marked by dramatic episodes: the intense images of are, bure, boke (graininess, blurriness, out-of-focus) published in Provoke magazine and other publications in the late 1960s; his self-criticism and declaration of directional change in his 1973 collection of writings Why an Illustrated Botanical Dictionary?; and his coma and amnesia in 1977, and his recovery. While these narratives highlighted Nakahira’s presence, however, they also fixed his image and obscured the details of his work.

In this exhibition, we focus on Nakahira’s works, many of which appeared in magazines and photo books, by carefully retracing his steps to the original pages of these publications, reexamining his development, and reviewing other notable works that were shown in a number of important exhibitions. In addition, we shed light on the new pursuits he embarked on in the mid-’70s, which he was subsequently forced to suspend due to illness, and his further evolution in pieces dating from after his comeback to the end of his career to create a comprehensive view of Nakahira’s work.

Even after the photographer’s death in 2015, interest in his work has continued to grow both nationally and internationally. Presenting 400 works and materials spanning his entire career, this long-awaited exhibition traces the trajectory of Nakahira’s thinking and practice on photography, which still raises questions we cannot overlook even today.

Curated by Rei Masuda (Curator of Photography), Takako Matsuda (Guest Researcher), and Sayuri Kobayashi (Assistant Curator); Organized by The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and The Asahi Shimbun; With the support of Japan Professional Photographers Society.

Catalog information
Number of pages: 448 pages
Languages: Japanese-English bilingual
Price: 3,500yen (including tax)
Date of Issue: Mach 2024 (TBD)
To be sale at the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo Museum Shop and Live Art Books online store (https://liveartbooks.official.ec/).

Press inquiries: nakahira2024@ypcpr.com.