Ever wonder why they lock the park gates after dark? Photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki’s night-vision images of the raunchy goings-on at three Tokyo parks during the 1970s are thoroughly fascinating in that slightly guilty, can’t-look-away sort of sense, like glimpsing ghastly road crashes or inappropriate beachwear.
Click here to see more of Yoshiyuki's photos.
More interesting than the actual sex, which, after all, isn’t particularly revealing, is the context, the lack of inhibition, and the extraordinary audience of reckless voyeurs gathered at each scene like excited ghosts with hungry eyes.
You can almost imagine Richard Attenborough narrating the furtive mating habits of a strange, nocturnal species known as... the human. And that, perhaps, is what makes the images so compelling. The participants are assumedly normal looking, job-going, bus-catching members of society. It’s an intriguing glimpse at humanity at its most primal, and at a group of people who probably weren’t expecting a cameraman.
Photos from Yoshiyuki’s series ‘The Park’ formed part of the Yossi Milo gallery’s exhibition at the Solo Project art fair in Basel, Switzerland earlier this month. The full collection, along with the series ‘Love Hotel’, was recently republished in a new edition by Hatje Cantz.
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designCreativity leaps the screen at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s record-flying roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
The modernist home of musician Imogen Holst gets Grade II listingThe daughter of the composer Gustav Holst lived here from 1964 until her death, during which time the home served a locus for her own composition work, which included assisting Benjamin Britten
-
This fun and free-spirited photography exhibition offers a chromatic view on the world‘Chromotherapia’ at Villa Medici in Rome, explores how we view colour as a way of therapy, and how it has shaped photography over the last century (until 9 June 2025)
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
-
Era-defining photographer David Bailey guides us through the 1980s in a new tome not short of shoulder pads and lycraFrom Yves Saint Laurent to Princess Diana, London photographer David Bailey dives into his 1980s archive in a new book by Taschen
-
Inside Joan Didion’s unseen diary of personal relationships and post-therapy notesA newly discovered diary by Joan Didion is soon to be published. Titled 'Notes to John', the journal documents her relationship with her daughter, husband, alcoholism, and depression
-
Carsten Höller’s new Book of Games: 336 playful pastimes for the bold and the boredArtist Carsten Höller invites readers to step out of their comfort zone with a series of subversive games
-
Distracting decadence: how Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy shaped Italian TVStefano De Luigi's monograph Televisiva examines how Berlusconi’s empire reshaped Italian TV, and subsequently infiltrated the premiership
-
How a sprawling new book honours the legacy of cult photographer Larry Fink‘Larry Fink: Hands On / A Passionate Life of Looking’ pays homage to an American master. ‘He had this ability to connect,’ says publisher Daniel Power
-
New Jay-Z coffee-table book dives into the Brooklyn rapper's archives'Book of HOV: A Tribute to Jay-Z' is a hefty tome for a hefty talent
-
Discover Eve Arnold’s intimate unseen images of Marilyn Monroe‘Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold’, published by ACC Art Books, is a personal portrayal of an icon
