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P R E S S R E L E A S E

Chernobyl Chechersk, Belarus 19921

Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (February and March)

10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (April though July)

(Last admission 30 minutes before closing.)

Closed on Wednesdays

＊Open on Wednesday, May 4. (Wed.), 2016.

Admission: ¥800 (¥700) for adults, ¥400 (¥300) for high school and university students;

admission is free for junior high school students and younger visitors.

(Figures in parentheses are group admission fees for groups of 20 or more.)

Organized by Izu Photo Museum

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Documentarian Motohashi Seiichi (1940–) has used the two modes of photography and f ilm to document the lives of ordinary people since the 1960s. His work has received domestic and international acclaim, including the Domon Ken Award for his book Nadya’s Village and the grand prize at the St. Petersburg “Message to Man” Film Festival for “Alexei and the Spring.” Motohashi’s f ields of observation have included coalmines, popular entertainment, the circus, a slaughterhouse, and a train station, where he has portrayed the rich diversity of human endeavor that forms the foundation of society. He has also published three books and directed two documentaries that focus on people who have continued to live in the vicinity of the Chernobyl power plant even after the nuclear accident. 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, and Motohashi’s photographs of an irradiated homeland have taken on a new urgency for us, in the wake of Japan’s nuclear meltdowns after the March 11 tsunami.

The exhibition will trace the half-century journey of a photographer, featuring more than 150 of Motohashi’s images. The selection will include previously unreleased early photographs from his points of origin, along with a range of his representative work.

* Motohashi’s documentary f ilms will also be screened during the period of the exhibition.

The Coal Mine　（1964 – ）

The Coal Mine was awarded the Taiyo Prize in 1968. The series

was begun as Motohashi’s thesis project at the Tokyo College of

Photography, and for some years afterwards he traveled to coal-

mining areas in Kyushu and Hokkaido to photograph daily life in

the mine communities. Motohashi’s encounter with the nonfiction

writer Ueno Eishin, who lived in the town of Chikuho in Kyushu,

motivated him to devote himself fully to photography. As a result of

the energy revolution of the 1960s, oil replaced coal as the primary

source of fuel, and many coal mines were driven to closure.

Circus　（1976 – ）

As Japanese cities were transformed at an unprecedented pace in the postwar era, Motohashi was strongly attracted to “the entertainers and stagehands who spun their lives and livelihoods in the space of a tent.” More than 30 circus troupes performed in Japan during the peak period, but one after another they went out of business, until only two troupes still perform today.

Ueno Station　（1980 – ）

This series captured “the last days of Ueno Station as a terminal” before

the Shinkansen bullet train connection to Omiya opened in 1985.

Historically, Ueno served as the entry point that linked Tokyo and

northern Japan, a place where a wide range of people, including migrant

laborers, came and went and spent time. The connection between each

individual and the station was that of a “plaza,” where innumerable

personal tales unfolded. The electronic schedule boards in use today

were once operated by hand (plate 4).

Motohashi Seiichi: Sense of PlaceFebruary 7 (Sunday) – July 5, 2016 (Tuesday)

IZU PHOTO MUSEUM

［Motohashi Seiichi’s Major Series］

Ueno Station, Tokyo 19814Sekine Circus, Numazu, Shizuoka 1976

Kurate, Fukuoka 19652

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Slaughterhouse　（1986 – ）

A documentary series on workers at a slaughterhouse in the Osaka

area city of Matsubara. Photography began during the 1980s,

when traditional methods of slaughtering and butchering animals

were used. Meat processing has been largely mechanized at the

slaughterhouse today, but much of the work was previously done by

skilled craftsmen. Abattoir, the f irst book ever compiled in Japan

to document work in a slaughterhouse, was published in 2011.

Slaughterhouse work was historically the subject of discrimination,

and it was rare for a camera to be allowed inside.

Performance East and West　（1972 – ）

This series was started to accompany essays on popular entertainment

by the actor and folk-arts expert Ozawa Shoichi in Taiyo (The Sun)

magazine. After 4 years, the series continued to appear in Ozawa’s self-

published quarterly, Performance East and West. Cabaret performers,

chindon’ya street musicians, vaudevillians, popular theater, Ise

and Honkawa kagura dance, Kawachi song and farce, kamishibai

storytelling, midget wrestling, Akita manzai comic performance…

Many of these folk-style performing arts that maintained tradition and

provided entertainment were transformed as lifestyles and forms of

entertainments changed, and this series serves in part to document a

disappearing popular culture.

Chernobyl　（1991 – ）

On April 26, 1986, an accident of unprecedented scale happened at

the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in a region of the former Soviet

Union (now Ukraine). Five years later in 1991, at the invitation

of the Japan Chernobyl Foundation, Motohashi traveled there to

photograph the power plant and the surrounding area. He has

since returned to the area more than 30 times to document the

lives of villagers who have chosen to remain in their homes in a

contaminated zone of Belarus. He has published three books—

Infinite Embrace, Nadya’s Village, and Alexei and the Spring—and

directed two films, “Nadya’s Village” and “Alexei and the Spring.”

◎Additional Series on Exhibit・Early work: Ofuyu (1963), including previously unexhibited photographs・Early work: Yoron (1964), a previously unexhibited series・Recent work: Arayashiki (2011–)

［Profile］

MOTOHASHI SeiichiPhotographer and film director Motohashi Seiichi was born in Tokyo in 1940. He graduated from Jiyu Gakuen high school in 1963 and from the Tokyo College of Photography in 1965. He was awarded the Taiyo Prize in 1968 for his series Coal Mines . In 1995, Infinite Embrace won the annual prize from the Photographic Society of Japan, as well as the Society of Photography Prize. In 1998, Nadya’s Village won the Domon Ken Award. Motohashi directed the documentary films “Nadya’s Village” (1997), “Alexei and the Spring” (2002), “If You Sing with Namii” (2006), and “A Thousand-Year Song of Baobab” (2009); he produced “The Village That Became Water,” “Holy Island,” and “Tale of a Butcher Shop.” In 2015, he released his most recent film, “Take Your Time—Arayashiki.” His solo exhibitions have included Motohashi Seiichi: Nadezhda—Hope at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2002), and Motohashi Seiichi Photography and Film Exhibition: Nadezhda—Hope at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art (2006). His books include Nadya’s Village (Heibonsha, 1998), Alexei and the Spring (Shogakukan, 2002), Abattoir (Heibonsha, 2011), Ueno Station Intervals (new edition, Heibonsha, 2012), Circus Time (new edition, Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2013), and Coal Mines (new edition, Kaichosha, 2015).

Matsubara, Osaka 19865

Naniwa Sannosuke Troupe, Kobe, Hyogo 1973

Borisovich Village, Belarus 19968

Dudichi Village, Belarus 19967

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［Events］

◎Discussion with Photographer Motohashi SeiichiGuest: Sekino Yoshiharu (Adventurer, physician, professor of

anthropology at Musashino Art University)

Date/Time: February 14 (Sun) 2:30–4:00p.m.

Place: Clematis no Oka Hall (near the museum)

Free (exhibition ticket required for entry)

Limited to 150. Please register in advance by calling 055-989-8780.

◎Gallery Talks by the PhotographerDate /Time: Ma rch 27 (Sun), May 15 (Sun), 11:15a .m. a nd

2 :15p.m. (approx . 45 min .)

Free (e x h ibit ion t icke t requ i red for ent r y)

No reg i s t r a t ion requ i red ( g a t her a t t he mu seu m ent r a nce

cou nter)

◎Gallery Talks by the CuratorDate / T i me : Febr u a r y 28 (Su n), A pr i l 24 (Su n), Ju ne 2 6

(Su n), 2 :15p.m. (approx . 30 min .)

Free (e x h ibit ion t icke t requ i red for ent r y)

No reg i s t r a t ion requ i red ( g a t her a t t he mu seu m ent r a nce

cou nter)

◎Screenings of Motohashi Seiichi’s Films

Dates (tentative): April 3 (Sun), May 15 (Sun), June 12 (Sun)

Screenings will be held during the exhibition period. Details will

be posted on the museum Web site (www.izuphoto-museum.jp).［

［Related Publications］

・Mo t o h a s h i S e i i c h i : S e n s e o f P l a c e w i l l b e pu b l i s he d by

I zu Photo Mu seu m du r ing t he e x h ibit ion per iod

(d i s t r ibuted by Noha ra).

Det a i l s w i l l be pos ted on t he mu seu m Web s it e

(w w w.i zuphoto -mu seu m.jp)

・A new edition of Motohashi Seiichi’s Infinite Embrace will be

published during the exhibition period.

［Contact］

IZU PHOTO MUSEUM

Exhibition coordinator:

Mori Yoko（mori-yoko@clematis-no-oka.co.jp）Press coordinator:

Kishi Michiyo（kishi@clematis-no-oka.co.jp）

［About the museum］

Hours： 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (February and March) 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (April though July) (Last admission 30 minutes before closing.)Closed on Wednesdays ＊Open on Wednesday, May 4.

Admission: ¥800 (¥700) for adults, ¥400 (¥300) for high school and universitystudents;admission is free for junior high school students and younger visitors.(Figures in parentheses are group admission fees for groups of 20 or more.)

Access：● By carFrom Tokyo: Exit the Tomei Expressway at the Susono Interchange, then proceed on R246 for 10 km, towards Numazu From Nagoya: Exit the Shin-Tomei Expressway at the Nagaizumi-Numazu Interchange or the Tomei Expressway at the Numazu Interchange, then proceed on the Izu-Junkan Expressway (a toll-free segment), turn right at the Nagaizumi Interchange, and proceed on R246 for 7 km

● By trainTake the JR Tokaido Line to Mishima. A free shuttle bus is available at its North Entrance (bus stop 3). The time required is about 25 minutes.

347-1 Clematis no Oka, Higashino, Nagaizumi-cho, Shizuoka Prefecture

Tel. 055-989-8780 Fax. 055-989-8783 www. izuphoto-museum .jp

●Free Shuttle Bus

Please note: All Japanese names in this press release appear in Japanese

style (i.e., family name followed by given name).

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［Press Photographs］

The photographs appearing in this press release are available for use (digital f iles only). Please provide the necessary information

and submit requests by fax or e-mail.

● Please check the number of the image requested. In addition to the caption, please include the following credit: © Motohashi Seiichi.

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IZU PHOTO MUSEUM　Press coordinator: Kishi Michiyo

E-mail: kishi@clematis-no-oka.co.jpFax: 055-989-8783347-1 Clematis no Oka, Higashino, Nagaizumi-cho, Shizuoka Prefecture　Tel 055-989-8780

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