The Dark and Melancholic Side Of Japanese Urban Life: Kohei Yoshiyuki's Voyeuristic Photos

Art And Documentation

Kohei Yoshiyuki (吉行 耕平), considered an iconic figure in documentary photography throughout the 1970s and 1980s, was born in Hiroshima in 1946. His work is characterized by the daring exploration of taboo themes such as voyeurism, public sex, and the threshold between the private and the public. His most famous images belong to the series “The Park ”, in which he innovatively and disturbingly captured the nocturnal life in Tokyo's parks, such as Shinjuku, Yoyogi, and Aoyama, where couples would meet for sexual activities and were observed by voyeurs hiding in the shadows.

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"I Needed To Be Seen As One of Them"

The start of this series happened almost by accident. Yoshiyuki was working as a commercial photographer, but during one of his nighttime walks with a colleague in Shinjuku's Central Park, he witnessed an unusual scene: a couple engaged in a sexual act, surrounded by hidden spectators in the bushes. The sight of these men, who instead of intervening or reporting the act, simply watched, intrigued Yoshiyuki. Driven by curiosity and the desire to document this behavior, he decided to immerse himself in this world, becoming both an observer and, in a sense, a participant. As he himself said: "To take photos, I needed to be seen as one of them." Between 1971 and 1973, Yoshiyuki took photos in three Tokyo parks, focusing on both the couples and the voyeurs. To capture these scenes without being detected, he equipped his camera with infrared film and flash, allowing him to photograph in the dark with near-total discretion. In a way, his work can be analyzed as more than mere documentation of sexual encounters, offering us the possibility to examine human behavior in situations of anonymity and darkness, where social norms are suspended, and innermost desires come to the surface.

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The Voyeur, The Spectator, And the Participant

“The Park” series challenges the viewer to confront their own ethical and emotional limits. As critic Gerry Badger pointed out, Yoshiyuki's images blur the boundaries between voyeur, spectator, and participant. By photographing the observers and not just the couples involved in the act, Yoshiyuki creates an unsettling situation, where the viewer of the artwork also becomes a voyeur, mirroring the behavior of the figures depicted. His photos thus articulate a layering of perspectives, inviting us to reflect on the gaze and power, desire and morality, and the thin line that separates the public from the private.

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Cultural Context

“The Park” remained largely unknown for many years and was only rediscovered in 2007, more than three decades after the images were created, when it was presented in an exhibition at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. The reception was immediate and intense. The photos, which had already been exhibited in Japan in a limited context, took on new meaning on the international stage. They began to be shown at renowned institutions and art events, including Tate Modern, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and biennials such as Venice, Berlin, and Gwangju.

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The cultural context in which Yoshiyuki created these images is essential to understanding them deeply. Japan in the 1970s experienced a period of rapid modernization and social transformation, but also of deep tensions, the result of post-war scars on Japanese society. The defeat in World War II, American occupation, and subsequent economic recovery created an environment where ancient traditions clashed with the new urban and globalized lifestyle. The park, as an ambiguous space between the public and private, thus became a place where these tensions manifested. For many young Japanese, especially those still living with their parents and facing social disapproval toward premarital sex or homosexuality, parks offered a refuge where they could express themselves without restriction.

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In the extended Premium edition the author is going to delve deeper into the voyeuristic aspects in Yoshiyuki's photography, why "The Park" resonates to this day, the visual ambiguity of the series and its legacy, why the renowned British photographer Martin Parr stated that “The Park” is one of the most brilliant works of documentary photography, many additional pics and much more...!

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