The solo exhibition 'Ya-chimata' by photographer Hiroo Kikai will be held at NANZUKA Gallery in Shibuya from Friday, January 10 to Sunday, January 26, 2020. This exhibition marks NANZUKA Gallery's first ever exhibition by a photographer and is a special project that can be considered the final missing piece in the gallery's context, cultivated over its 15-year history.

Hiroo Kikai was born in Yamagata Prefecture in 1945. After graduating from Hosei University's Department of Philosophy, he decided to become a photographer after various jobs including truck driver, tuna fisherman, and darkroom technician. Starting in 1973, he began photographing people he met in Asakusa. He has since published numerous collections of his work, including 'Portraits of Kings: Senso-ji Temple Grounds' (1987), 'Ya-chimata: Corridor of Kings' (1996), 'Persona' (2004), and 'PERSONA The Final Chapter' (2019), documenting his Asakusa series over more than 45 years. In 2004, he received the 23rd Domon Ken Award for his photobook 'PERSONA'. He has held solo exhibitions such as 'Persona' (Domon Ken Museum of Photography, Yamagata, 2004), 'Tokyo Portraits' (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, 2011), and 'Persona The Final Chapter' (Nara City Museum of Photography, 2019). His works are also held in the collection of the International Center of Photography in New York.

The most crucial aspect of Kikai's work lies in 'how to capture the lives and humanity of his subjects.' Since 1973, Kikai has stood with his beloved Hasselblad camera at Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, observing passersby for most of the day. He would approach only those who resonated with him and photograph them against the same vermilion-colored wall within the temple grounds. He photographed only one to two people a day, rarely more than three. Kikai states, 'Portraits are time. I photograph the time they have arrived, and the time they are about to depart.' The relationship with his subjects holds profound significance for him. Kikai's subjects are anonymous individuals living ordinary lives—craftsmen, the unemployed, the elderly, students, housewives, or those with unknown occupations—whom Kikai refers to as 'kings,' capturing their dignity. The sincerity, affection, and curiosity that enable this are the underlying threads of Kikai's work.

During his university years, Kikai met philosopher Sadayoshi Fukuda, who taught him that 'the most luxurious play in life is expression.' Kikai himself has said, 'I've always thought of myself as someone who simply continues to photograph, like a wild plant growing tenaciously and discreetly, far removed from the world of photography.' The figures of 'dropouts' he photographs can be seen as his own alter egos.

This exhibition focuses on Kikai's 1996 publication 'Ya-chimata,' showcasing a curated selection of works from his series that has spanned over 45 years and captured more than a thousand individuals. Concurrently, at CASE (a space on the first basement floor of the same building as NANZUKA), a solo exhibition of selected works by Shunji Dodo, a photographer who, like Kikai, was inspired by Diane Arbus and has spent 40 years, since 1980, wandering and photographing in Osaka's Shinsekai district, will also be held.