Changing perceptions and breaking boundaries | Japanese Photography
provoke
WHY : challenge the idea that photography has its own language, independent of words.Following the decimation and rebuilding of Japanese society after the Second World War, photography played an important part in a new self-definition of Japanese visual style, set apart from Western influences.
Provoke was a magazine with only three issues in the late 1960s, but its influence continued into the 1970s and 80s. It set itself apart from the photojournalistic style of the day, looking for a more subjective voice and validation of the person behind the camera. The images are often grainy and disorderly, reflecting the social and political upheavals taking place across the nation. It also constrasted with the glossy imagery of commercial magazines.
Takuma Nakahira and Yutaka Takanashi were founding members of the Provoke group. Daido Moriyama joined a little later, bringing with him his early influences of Cartier-Bresson, but with a desire to be a witness with more self-expressive intent.
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The main subject of this project is Provoke (Purovōku), an experimental magazine founded by photographers Yutaka Takanashi and Takuma Nakahira, critic Koji Taki, and writer Takahiko Okada in 1968. The magazine’s subtitle read as: shisō no tame no chōhatsuteki shiryō (Provocative documents for the sake of thought). Photographer Daido Moriyama, the photographer most often associated with the publication, did not join the magazine until the second issue. Provoke lasted only three issues with a small print run, but was tremendously influential. |
Provoke argued that the photographer can capture what cannot be expressed in words, presenting photographs as “documents” for others to read. In Japanese, the visual style of the photographs in Provoke has been described as: ‘are-bure-boke‘, which translates as ‘grainy/rough, blurry, out-of-focus‘. On 31 March 1970 the Provoke collective published the book Mazu tashikarashisa no sekai o suterō: Shashin to gengo no shisō (First, Throw Out Verisimilitude – Thoughts on photography and language). It was to the be the last publication of this short lived but influential group. Each of the participants went on to establish their own individual visions in their subsequent careers.
Contextual history
>> Daido Moriyama wants you to WATCH THIS <<
“Photography was too explanatory, too narrational for me. […] It was natural for me to join Provoke. […] They said they were photographing atmosphere. But I was very precise and careful. […] But my work changed after I saw how they worked. I saw that I could not control everything. I understood that photography is only a fragment. I used to be a photographer who interprets things via language. And then Provoke changed me.”
— Yakuta Takanashi
“The ambitious mission of Provoke to create a new photographic language that could transcend the limitations of the written word was declared with the launch of the magazine’s first issue. The year was 1968 and Japan, like America, was undergoing sweeping changes in its social structure. A questioning of traditional social conventions and a loss of confidence in existing political powers was happening in many creative disciplines across Japan and formed the foundation that fuelled Provoke’s mission. Unified under a manifesto that advocated conceptualism over realism, Provoke‘s photographers and writers moved beyond issues of what to photograph, and sought to uncover and question the essential nature of photography itself. The visual results flouted the precision of earlier documentary modes in favour of a less focused imagery that allowed for chance and the unknown to reveal itself in the photographic process.”
— Russet Lederman, 2012
Other photographs by Provoke Group members:
Your response to PROVOKE
- Look carefully at the photographs published in the various issues of Provoke. How would you describe them? Write a list of words that might be used to capture the visual qualities, subjects and impact of these photographs on the viewer.
- What does the word Provoke suggest to you? What is provocative about these photographs? Why do you think this was chosen as the title of the publication?
- Reflect on your own feelings about the society in which you live and the state of photography. What kinds of images and ways of making photographs seem appropriate to you for documenting these feelings and attitudes? Where would you go to make these pictures? Given Moriyama’s use of a consumer compact camera (rather than an expensive, professional rangefinder or SLR) would it matter to you what equipment you used?
- In order to explain the approach they were taking to photography in Provoke, the participants published a short manifesto. There is a long history of artists, especially in the twentieth century, banding together and writing manifestos. Imagine you decided to collaborate with classmates and/or friends to create an artistic collective. What would you write in your manifesto?
- Daido Moriyama has said: “[My] photos are often out of focus, rough, streaky, warped, etc. But if you think about it, a normal human being will in one day perceive an infinite number of images, and some of them are focused upon, others are barely seen out of the corner of one’s eye.” What do you think he means? Watch the film Daido Moriyama: In Pictures and make some notes. How would you summarise his attitude to photography?
- It is often more difficult to make ‘wrong‘ photographs than it is to follow the ‘rules’ or conventions of photography. Attempt to make a series of images which respond as instinctively to the world as possible. Consider the following questions:
- Will you use a film or digital camera? Will your camera be an SLR/DSLR, a compact camera, a disposable camera or a camera phone?
- Will you photograph in colour or black and white?
- Will you always look through the viewfinder?
- Will you always compose your image carefully?
- Will you always keep the camera level with the horizon?
- Will you always focus on your subject?
- Will your subjects conform to one or more genres of photography?
- Will you always photograph from your full height?
- Will you always carefully select your subjects?
- Whilst you are making photographs, ask yourself the questions: “What is photography?”, “Who becomes a photographer?” and “What is seeing?”…remember, you have access to texts and publications that ask the same questions
- Once you have made a significant number of photographs, consider how you will edit, print, sequence and display them. You could continue to experiment at this stage by, for example, printing your images on unusual materials and/or using a scanner or photocopier to print/alter your photographs.
- You might decide to create your own photobook or magazine (like Provoke). You could also choose to collaborate with classmates. Again, don’t be afraid to question the ‘rules’ about how photographs are generally displayed. Consider issues such as repetition, scale, materials, layering, orientation etc.
- Daido Moriyama reportedly told the publisher of his groundbreaking book ‘Farewell to Photography’ to arrange the pictures in whatever way he liked. You could give a classmate a selection of your images and ask them to make their own sequence for a display or publication of some sort, thus delegating the responsibility of the final display to someone else.
- Bend and break the rules, conventions, limitations of what you know about photography…and find a sense of freedom whilst provoking a response from the viewer(s).
Good Luck!