Nobuyoshi Araki gets more personal than ever in a new visual diary

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To mark its 30th anniversary in 2014, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain invited the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki to document his everyday life. Over the course of seven weeks in the spring of that year, Araki obliged with his characteristic obsessiveness, photographing daily.

'Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)'

From 'Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)', by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

The resulting 1,250 photographs – originally published in a weekly online slideshow – have now been packed into 696 pages of a newly published and voluminous tome. In Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), Araki turns his lens on Tokyo, erotic portraits of young women and sensual still-lifes, as well as his favourite haunts in the district of Kabukichō.

The book weaves a rich visual tale that requires no words, save for the back cover, where Araki muses: ‘My heart beats; I squeeze the shutter. Less a diary, more a transcript of time. This is life: when the beat stops, I’ll be dead.’

Tomatoes Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Reflection Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Flower and doll head Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Colour billboard on black/white background Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Bathtub with celery Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Green splash Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Back of woman Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Crosswalk Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Strawberry Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Orange Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

Room Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary)

From Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), by Nobuyoshi Araki. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Nobuyoshi Araki and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris)

INFORMATION

Hi-Nikki (Non-Diary Diary), €38, published by Fondation Cartier. For more information, visit the Fondation Cartier website

Jessica Klingelfuss
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