Is the World Beautiful? Moriyama Daidō’s Provocation of the History of Photography

Abstract

Divided into five sections, Fukagawa’s essay begins with the suggestion that Moriyama disagrees with the idea that the “world is beautiful.” During the political turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s, Moriyama was part of a group of Japanese photographers who sought a revolution in photographic expression. The second part explains the notion of the “equivalent” gaze in Moriyama’s work, while the third considers Moriyama’s pioneering approaches in relation to the history of photography. Moriyama questioned modernist theories and the notion of realism and kumi shashin that characterized postwar photography in Japan. Part four focuses on Moriyama’s search for a new relationship between photographer, photography, and the world. The essay ends with a reflection on Moriyama’s work since the 1970s, quoting Victor Shklovsky to describe Moriyama’s restoration of the medium of photography.