Keizo Kitajima: Tokyo--Koza

Gravitating toward nocturnal spaces and marginalized communities, Kitajima uses the night as both subject and metaphor for identity, desire and transformation

Japanese photographer Keizo Kitajima's (born 1954) two series, Photographs of Okinawa (1975-79) and Tokyo 1979, share a deep continuity in spirit and approach, revealing the foundations of his raw, immersive photographic language. Both series emerge from Kitajima's direct participation in the worlds he depicts--whether amid the humid streets and bars of post-reversion Okinawa or the restless nightlife of Tokyo's underground. Shot in stark black and white with harsh flash, the images expose moments of vulnerability and intensity within Japan's shifting social landscape. Although each series was originally self-published separately, Kitajima later announced that their intentions and conclusions are the same. With three different cover colors--pink, blue and green--this publication collides the two series together in oversize format, with images as raw and fresh as when first photographed some 50 years ago.