Two different covers

While it’s been more than twenty years since moving to Tokyo, I’ve never grown tired of how, day by day, the city fluctuates and grows. But on the other hand, it has become hard to see the embodiment of our true humanity - perhaps this loss is a consequence of our unchecked modern urban proliferation.

Years ago, while I was photographing and living among nomads in Tibet I was struck by the way in which those there live and coexist powerfully with the earth. I honed this feeling through making portraits of the people I encountered. Compared with my experiences there I felt that, as photographic subjects, through the convenience of modern life the citizens of Tokyo lacked something that those in Tibet naturally possessed.

But was this really so?

Making an effort to observe Tokyo well, one should be able to discover those living strongly with the same radiance of human nature coexisting within the city. This belief led me to begin a daily attempt to seek out with my camera those who exist and thrive within their natural, yet urban, habitat.

Indeed, ten years have passed and in my eyes the dense sprawl of Tokyo is an ecosystem with magnificent circulation.

― Statement from the artist

Book Size
302 x 373 x 21 mm
Pages
196 pages
Binding
Hardcover, slipcase
Publication Date
2016
Limited Edition
1,000 (black cover: 500 / silver cover: 500)

Artist Profile

Shinya ARIMOTO

Born in Osaka, 1971, Arimoto currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from Visual Arts Osaka in 1994, Arimoto received the 35th Taiyo Award in 1998 with his work “Portrait of Tibet”. In 2008, he founded the Totem Pole Photo Gallery. Arimoto published “Tokyo Circulation” with Zen Foto Gallery in 2016 and won the 26th Tadahiko Hayashi Award as well as the Photographic Society of Japan’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. His other publications include “ariphoto selection” (No. 1-10, Totem Pole Photo Gallery) and “TIBET” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2019). Actively presenting his work in and out of Japan, he held a solo show at Le Plac'Art Photo, Paris in 2017 and participated in the group exhibition “Am Rand der Gesellschaft. Barlach – Springer – Arimoto” at Museum Bautzen, Germany in 2019.

Gallery Exhibitions