Looking at Japanese society: Hashiguchi George as visual sociologist
2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/14725860500244019
ISSN1472-5878
Autores Tópico(s)Fashion and Cultural Textiles
ResumoThis paper examines how Japanese social documentary photographer, Hashiguchi George (b. 1949) explores his own society and culture much like a visual sociologist. Little known outside of Japan, Hashiguchi implicitly poses questions and provides pictorial responses to problems of social order and Japanese social organization. Much of Hashiguchi's work includes portrait photography accompanied by written transcriptions of questions answered by his subjects. Working as a sociological ethnographer with a survey approach, he produces a unique overview of Japanese society. The paper addresses the kinds of sociologically centred questions and interpretations found in Hashiguchi's work as well as his methods, portrait style, aesthetic preferences and model of documentation. Comparisons are made to German photographer, August Sander. Hashiguchi strives to present readers with a sense of considerable sociocultural diversity in light of stereotypic reductions of Japan as a homogeneous entity. Examples are discussed from several of Hashiguchi's photo‐texts, namely, 17's Map (1988 Hashiguchi, George. 1988. 17's map, Japan: Bungeishunju. [Google Scholar]), Children's Time (1999 Hashiguchi, George. 1999. “Children's time.”. In Kodomotaichi no Jikan (Children's time), Tokyo: Shogakukan. [Google Scholar]), Shoku 1991–1995 (Work) ( 1969 Hashiguchi, George. 1996. Shoku 1991–1995 (Work), Japan: Media Factory. [Google Scholar] ) and Yume (Dream) (1997).
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