shashasha

In 1993, Yoshiichi Hara sent positive films for a new photobook to a publishing company, then never heard of them again: they had gone bankrupt.　Their offices empty and with no-one left to contact, Hara’s positives had disappeared together with the publishing company.

Over 20 years later, the book finally comes to life. With the positives still missing, Hara reproduced the book from prints created before Hara sent his positives to the publisher.

“It was coquetry itself that the ladies showed me. It was full of taboo. it was elevated to be sacred, and felt different from my everyday life.　We became residents of the vacant world, and I performed as they desired. I conspired with them. I always followed them, and photographed them as they said.” — from Yoshiichi Hara’s afterword