Since Nobuyoshi Araki lost his beloved cat Chiro a year ago, he made a point of taking photographs on a daily basis. He took shots of naked women in kimono, of the sky, of Tokyo on the day of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (March 11) and even some on his way to hospital appointments. In thousands of images, Araki illustrated a year of his life without Chiro, his favorite companion since his wife died 11 years ago.
"Film Nostalgia" at Taka Ishii Gallery exhibits around 600 of these, often personal, images, as the photographer most famous for his erotic shots of women now professes that nostalgia is the most important aspect of our lives.
"I am not embarrassed to title my show 'Nostalgia,' as I might have been in the past. Though it can come off as very cliched," Araki says thoughtfully. "But I am now officially calling myself 'The old man, a photo maniac,' just like Hokusai (the ukiyo-e artist who called himself "The old man, a painting maniac") did when he was about 75 years old. Photography, in a way, is a modern ukiyo-e."