Two New Photo Books Released Simultaneously After a Seven-Year Hiatus

Itaru Hirama is known for his work photographing musicians and the people of Shiogama City in Miyagi Prefecture, his hometown. He has earned high acclaim for his portrait photography, characterized by an intimate approach to his subjects.

In 2007, he began photographing Min Tanaka, who, having left the theater the previous year, embarked on "Ba Odori" with the theme of "dancing not in a place, but dancing the place itself." Since then, photographing "Ba Odori" has become Hirama's life's work.

Then came the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Unable to face his devastated hometown as a photographer, it was the act of photographing "Ba Odori" once again that brought Hirama back to photography.



The venue will feature approximately 20 gelatin silver prints, differing from his previous works in their strong reflection of inspiration from dance, yet also incorporating landscapes without Tanaka's presence. Furthermore, coinciding with this exhibition, two new photo books, his first in seven years and centered on his "Ba Odori" works, will be released simultaneously.

Hirama states, "Through the amorphous energy of Min Tanaka, I feel the history of the 'place' woven from the past to the present, and the future that continues beyond it." This exhibition of Hirama's work, where life and place become one, presents a powerful collection of photographs that seem eternal, revealing Hirama's new artistic frontier.

Itaru Hirama Photo Books (2 Volumes): "last movement I"

"last movement II"

Publisher: Hakushindo

Pages: 40 pages each

Size: B5 variant

Print run: 1,000 copies each

Price: ¥2,625

Release Date: Monday, July 15 (Holiday)