“It is not that I love Hokkaido, but rather that Hokkaido is my “love” that will probably never change for the rest of my life.”
― From Memories of a Dog

After working as a commercial designer and then as an assistant to photographers Takeji Iwamiya and Eikoh Hosoe, Daido Moriyama made his debut as a freelance photographer in 1963. The coarse-grained, high-contrast expressions that were published mainly in camera magazines and other media were described as “Are, Bure, Boke” and had a major impact on the Japanese photographic world of the time. His first major work, Japan, a Photo Theater (1968), and the controversial Bye Bye Photography (1972), which radically explored the nature of photography, are still considered among the greatest photo books in the history of Japanese photography. Moriyama’s stay in Sapporo in the summer of 1978 marked the beginning of his recovery from the long slump he had experienced after Bye Bye Photography.

“I rented an apartment for three months, and during that time, as long as it wasn’t raining (I should have taken pictures even on rainy days), I decided to go out with my camera every day. I took buses, rode on trains, and walked around Hokkaido. On rare occasions, I would stay overnight, but almost every night I would arrive at his apartment dragging his heavy feet, spend a long, frustrating night alone in my cold room nibbling on bread and sipping whisky, and then be seized by an unexplainable melancholy only to spend a long night in frustration.”
― From Memories of a Dog: The Final Chapter

However, most of the countless shots taken at this time have never been published, and have remained in storage at the film development stage until today. The Daido Moriyama Photo Exhibition “Hokkaido” is a unique attempt to exhibit approximately 2,000 newly printed prints from these negatives, which have been reviewed for the first time in approximately 30 years and carefully checked, in each venue in a different configuration according to region and exhibition concept.

Jun. 26, 2009 (Fri) – Sep. 27, 2009 (Sun): MIYANOMORI ART MUSEUM, SAPPORO
Jul. 11, 2009 (Sat) – Aug. 23, 2009 (Sun): Yubari Art Museum
Jul. 29, 2009 (Wed) – Sep. 28, 2009 (Mon): Arte Piazza Bibai
Sep. 12, 2009 (Sat) – Oct. 4, 2009 (Sun): Sapporo Parco Main Building
*Higashikawa Bunka Gallery has been moved to Chapter 2.