日本人写真家、森山大道と、レバノン出身のフォトグラファー、アヴォ・タヴィシアン（Avo Tavitian）の作品集。

本書は「Nazraeli Press」編集者でありキュレーターのマヤ・イシワタ（Maya Ishiwata）と、「CORNERKIOSK PRESS」のディレクターであり、ノルウェー・オスロでアートギャラリー「MELK」を運営するアーティスト、ビャーン・ベア（Bjarne Bare）のキュレーションによって、2024年後半にロサンゼルスのダウンタウンにオープンする「Nazraeli Showroom」で開催される柿落としの展覧会に伴い刊行された。森山大道による現在進行中のシリーズ「Shinjuku, Tokyo」と、アヴォ・タヴィシアンが過去30年にわたって撮影してきたロサンゼルスの写真から抜粋し、呼応するように構成されている。

二者は、日常的な被写体をフレーミングすることに重点を置き、35mmフィルムで一瞬を捉えながら、メディアの予測不可能な性質も同時に受け入れている。作品には、都市風景への深い憧憬と日常にあふれるものへの好奇心が反映されている。二人の写真家は、その探求を通して、絶えず変化する人間が生きる環境における帰属とアイデンティティの複雑さを、カメラを使って我々に見せている。

Published to coincide with an exhibition of the same name, Los Angeles x Shinjuku presents a face-to-face selection of work from Daido Moriyama’s ongoing Shinjuku, Tokyo series and Avo Tavitian’s photographs of Los Angeles made over the past three decades.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1954, Avo Tavitian’s journey to photography is marked by a profound connection to his changing surroundings. Shaped by the experience of moving to the Eastern shore of the United States with his family in the late 1960s, following the 1967 Middle East war, Tavitian developed a sense of being an outsider during his formative teen years in New Jersey and New York City, a sensibility that would later influence his work as a photographer after his relocation to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s.

Born in 1938 in Osaka, Japan, Daido Moriyama is a pivotal figure in contemporary photography, celebrated for his evocative black-and-white street photography that captures the essence of urban life. In recording the subcultures of Tokyo during his career he gravitated to the dense, dynamic and often gritty ward of Shinjuku. He employs a raw, spontaneous style characterized by high contrast and grainy textures. His iconic images explore themes of identity, memory, and the fleeting moments of everyday existence.

Tavitian and Moriyama both focus on framing everyday subjects, capturing moments on 35mm film while embracing the unpredictability of the medium. Their work reflects a deep fascination with urban landscapes and a curiosity about the mundane, as they seeks to document the changes and constants in his field of vision. Through their explorations, both photographers use the camera to navigate the complexities of belonging and identity in an ever-shifting human environment.

Curated by Maya Ishiwata and Bjarne Bare, the exhibition Los Angeles x Shinjuku is the inaugural exhibition at the new Nazraeli Showroom opening in Downtown Los Angeles later this year.