Photopaper
Issue 11
Cheki
Hideka Tonomura
Kasseler Fotografie Festival
English
Nominated by Simon Baker.
Softcover
16 Pages
210 x 290 mm
2016
ISBN Not Available
Hideka Tonomura came to international attention with her 2008 book Mama Love. Genuinely transgressive (in the true sense of an overused term), this almost impossible body of work placed Tonomura within an affair between her mother and a dark, shadowy male figure that seemed always, somehow, in the photographer’s way. The balance of intimacy and intrusion persists throughout this intense and seductive book, beautifully but painfully sustained through a range of scenarios that see Tonomura make various attempts to document the illicit relationship, up to and including standing above the couple on their bed as they (apparently) make love. Since then Tonomura has worked through and between levels of intimacy in a range of projects that deal with love, sex and emotional intensity, whether real, imagined or assumed. In They Called Me Yukari (2013), she opened the lid on the world of the hostess bar in Tokyo, from her own point of view (that of the hostess), confusing fantasy with a persistent and subversive deflational realism, which at the same time resulted in many stunning individual images. Most importantly perhaps, alongside these successful published series Tonomura has sought to engage with the languages and logic of same-sex desire in Japan, particularly with complex questions of desire for and between women. cheki (the name given in Japan to the Fuji Instax version of the Polaroid) are the one-off results of games played between Tonomura and her female friends. Intentionally comic, but also deadly serious in their evocation of the transgressive power of eroticism, Tonomura’s cheki are that most ambiguous form of document: evidence of play.
(source: https://photopaper.world/portfolio-item/11-hideka-tonomura/)
About the Artist
Hideka Tonomura (Kobe, 1979) started her career as a photographer in 2002 after graduating from the Broadcasting and Filmmaking Department of Visual Arts Osaka. She won the Nikon Juna21 prize in 2003 and has since exhibited widely in Japan and internationally. She has published a number of book s including Mama Love (2008) and They Called me Yukari (2013) and is represented by Zen Photo Gallery in Tokyo.
hidekatonomura.com
(source: https://photopaper.world/portfolio-item/11-hideka-tonomura/)
About the Journal
PHOTOPAPER is a new kind of monographic photo publication with a continuously changing editorial team of international experts. These guest editors name photographers or photographic projects which they would like to present to an international public. PHOTOPAPER features this work in single monographic issues of 16 or 32 pages. The main idea is to make high-quality printed photographic work accessible to as many people as possible by producing the final publication at a reasonable price. Therefore, the production process is reduced to a minimum while at the same time using high-end printing technology and a nice paper. Published on a quarterly basis.
photopaper.world
(source: https://photopaper.world/about/)
About the Publisher
The Fotobookfestival Kassel is a charitable foundation that has been engaged with the artistic medium of the photobook and has presented it in all its facets, since 2008, in a festival program of international standing. The annual festival shows works by renowned artists and promotes established and emerging talents, publishers, designers, printers, curators and booksellers on an international platform. It was the first festival of its kind dedicated to the photographic book and has founded two novel book awards: The KASSEL DUMMY AWARD for the best photobook mock-up of the year has awarded emerging talents a complete photobook-production since 2010; the KASSEL PHOTOBOOK AWARD assembles the best photobooks of the previous year nominated by international experts in the field. Books entered for both awards are showcased regularly in travelling exhibitions at international festivals and photography events. These two awards are unique in their formats and have been role models for other international festivals and events.
fotobookfestival.org
(source: https://fotobookfestival.org/fotobookfestival-kassel/)
