Published by SUPER LABO, a Japanese independent publishing house focused on contemporary photography, Keiichi Tahara’s 1973 features dark, shadowy images of quotidien life and sublimities. Tahara’s unique approach to black and white photography wielded deep, pitch blacks and subtle tonalities; these traits transform each subject into a dystopian and intensely cinematic alternative of its presence in natural light. The effect apparent in Tahara’s shots can be referred to as a ‘morphological’ approach to image-making; in that the various components are positioned and recorded in a way that obfuscates physical boundaries between space, objects and air.
1973 contains photographs of rural landscapes, candid portraiture, and European metropolitan landscapes. The collection emphasizes the consistent aesthetic gestures present in Tahara’s work; each photograph is both lurid and high in contrast, casting a contemporary chiaroscuro effect that intrigues while it obscures.