Sakiko Nomura: Tender is the night

The 1990s are known as “the lost years” in Japan: the financial crisis of 1989 and the bursting of the economic bubble inhibited Japanese society’s growth. Conversely, photography and art experienced a period of change and internationalization. Museums and galleries opened, while infrastructures related to photography were strengthened. Public and private institutions alike began to treasure collections that featured this artform. Nevertheless, Japanese society exerted great discrimination toward women at the time; the world of photography was no exception. Although there were a number of important women photographers, they were few in numbers and it was difficult for them to attain much recognition. It was precisely within this context that women’s awareness radically changed and a true blossoming of new artists—whose work was often disrespectfully referred to as “girl photographs”—occurred. Nomura was part of this current and began to shape her path as a relevant photographer in her country, with interests that would differentiate her from her contemporaries.

Presented by Fundación MAPFRE, this retrospective dedicated to Sakiko Nomura borrows its title from the renowned F. Scott-Fitzgerald novel Tender Is the Night, published in 1934. Much like the book, the protagonists that make up the artist’s photographs are young and attractive. Likewise, Nomura’s images also convey the power and tension of erotic desire, albeit with much tenderness. Portrayed almost exclusively in black and white, in mysterious nighttime settings that are full of shadows, and often grainy or out-of-focus, Nomura’s male nudes, which she is best known for, alternate with images of animals, still lives (particularly flowers), views of cities, hotel room interiors, weather events, lights, and moving reflections, to name a few of the motifs developed by the artist. As a whole, these images have temporal connotations that are reminiscent of cinema. Scenes that the viewer can infer and are loaded with allegorical meanings, such as the transient nature of things and the fleetingness of time; in other words, the passing of life.

Photographs often serve as a registry of events or people. They refer to a date, or to the place where they were taken; they speak of one or several specific individuals. However, Nomura avoids these inquiries. Thus, a chronological order encompassing all of her works does not exist. For this reason, most rooms have been organized according to the photographs that make up the artist’s photobooks. In others, works are grouped thematically, with occasional overlaps. The show also features a selection of images produced in Granada during the summer of 2024, commissioned by Fundación MAPFRE on the occasion of this exhibition, along with eighteen photobooks and a film created from three shorter films—HIROKI, FLOWER, and, SEA—directed by Nomura herself.