"It may look like I'm just pointing the camera at what's in front of me. But I'm trying to photograph what people see, but don't notice - something that's mysterious and unknown in everyday life."
Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1938, Daido Moriyama's celebrated career has been shaped by constant reinvention and experimentation. Over six decades, he has become renowned for his bold are, bure, boke aesthetic - grainy, blurry and out-of-focus images that defy photographic convention. A pivotal figure in the radical Provoke movement of the late 1960s, Moriyama redefined photography, unbound by traditional constraints, capturing fragments of reality that "cannot be expressed in language as it is."
Moriyama is best known for recording the freneticism and anonymity of life in the city, Encounters reveals his lesser-explored ability to show beauty and stillness in the everyday. Softly lit city streets, rendered in grainy textures, evoke a surreal and poetic visual language that embraces imperfection. Fleeting moments of calm and intimacy are paired with whimsical glimpses of animals and delicate vignettes of nature - blossoms, snowflakes and quiet, weathered corners of urban sprawl - revealing an unexpected tenderness amongst his raw and gritty aesthetic.
In recent years, Moriyama has described his work as a visual diary, shooting pictures daily to document the ever-changing landscape of urban life. His enduring question- "What is photography?"-remains an open one which continues to probe the medium's position between the objective and the subjective, the illusory and the real.
This exhibition marks the Print Sales Gallery’s new representation of Daido Moriyama. We are delighted to be able to sell prints from his entire archive, in a range of sizes. Prices start at £1,200 + VAT. All profits from Print Sales support The Photographers’ Gallery’s public programme.
Pay in instalments through the Own Art scheme – please enquire for more information.
