Masahisa Fukase - Hibi

"Hibi" is a series of street photographs by renowned Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase. Each black-and-white image meticulously captures the road’s surface, showcasing worn road markings, fading lines, arrows eroded by the city's innumerable inhabitants, and a web of fissures in the asphalt. In 1992, Fukase printed and painted these works for his solo exhibition, 'Private Scenes ‘92,' held at Nikon Salon in Tokyo. He overlaid bromide prints with fluid drawings in brightly colored inks, embedding his physical presence in each image—a shadow-presence offering an interpretation that remains intriguingly unresolved.

About Masahisa Fukase

Masahisa Fukase was born in Bifuka, Hokkaido, in 1934. He graduated from Nihon University College of Art’s Photography Department in 1956 and became a freelance photographer in 1968 after working at the Nippon Design Center and Kawade Shobo Shinsha Publishers. His major collections include:

• Yugi (Homo Ludence) (Chuokoronsha, 1971)
• Yoko (Asahi Sonorama, 1978)
• Karasu (Ravens) (Sokyusha, 1986)

Fukase's work has been featured in major group exhibitions such as:

• “New Japanese Photography” (New York MoMA, 1974)
• “Black Sun: The Eyes of Four” (Oxford Museum of Modern Art, 1985)
• “By Night” (Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, 1996)
• “OUT OF JAPAN” (Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002)

Fukase's numerous solo exhibitions and accolades include the 2nd Ina Nobuo Award in 1976 for “Karasu” and the Special Award at the 8th Higashikawa Photography Awards in 1992. Tragically, in 1992, Fukase suffered a traumatic brain injury from which he never recovered, and he passed away in 2012.

Explore the Legacy of Masahisa Fukase

Delve into the haunting beauty of urban decay through Masahisa Fukase's "Hibi" and explore the impactful legacy of one of Japan's most celebrated photographers.