Daido Moriyama: Searching Journeys

Simon Lee Gallery Hong Kong proudly presents “Searching Journeys”, a survey showing the beginnings and later development of the influential photographer Daido Moriyama. Widely recognized for his innovative, highly personal and unvarnished depictions of urban life, Moriyama was a founding member of Provoke, an avant-garde magazine published between 1969 and 1970, now regarded as a seminal work of post-war Japanese art. Formed by a small group of left-wing photographers, the magazine sought to redefine the medium while chronicling the nation’s social and political turmoil. Amid the upheaval of post-war regeneration, Moriyama documented Japan’s transformation through its outcasts and underdogs. Characters such as back-street boxers, strippers, and gay prostitutes figured in his signature black-and-white, grain-heavy style. Reflecting shifts in Japanese society through its simultaneous globalization and urban deprivation, the highly textured and dramatically contrasted images of the Shinjuku area of Tokyo depicted the fragmentary nature of Japan’s modern realities. His expressive...