Each bookstore will serve as a concierge, recommending "must-read books" to FASHION HEADLINE readers. Every Thursday, we'll introduce a recommended book from each branch of the art bookstore "NADiff." This time, we'll be looking at NADiff du Champ in Tokyo's Ginza district.
■ "Frida: Love and Pain" by Miyako Ishiuchi
Frida Kahlo was a female painter born in Mexico in 1907 who passed away in 1954 at the young age of 47. Due to illnesses she suffered as a child and serious injuries sustained in a traffic accident while still young, she carried pain with her throughout her life, and in her later years, she spent most of her time painting while bedridden. Frida's birthplace, the "Blue House" near Mexico City, where she returned after her second marriage and spent the rest of her life, remains the "Frida Kahlo Memorial Museum." However, parts of the house and many of her belongings were not open to the public. At the request of a Mexican curator, Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako spent three weeks photographing Frida's belongings and bathroom in the "Blue House." These include shoes with different soles to accommodate her feet, which were unequal in length due to illness; corsets that supported her waist; numerous types of medicine bottles; socks with frayed edges; and colorful dresses, blouses, and scarves, traditionally from Mexico. Their owners are no longer with us. Looking at these photographs is different from viewing personal belongings displayed in glass cases at a museum, for example. The photographs show the belongings from various angles, sometimes in close-ups that obscure the details of the clothing. Or, a pair of shoes, positioned as if they had just taken a step, viewed from the side. Looking closely, one can see loose threads, stains, a single hair left on the brush. The worn-out shoes reveal the idiosyncratic gait of the wearer. The almost empty nail polish bottle reveals a sense of beauty. In other words, it reveals the life of the late Frida. The personality of the absent owner—the clothes someone once wore, the objects they once used—always resides in these fragments and details.
"Death is merely the loss of the body. The spirit, love, and pain—things that are invisible, intangible, and intangible—remain in the tangible objects that remain. My job is to accurately capture these feelings in photographs," Ishiuchi Miyako states decisively in the afterword, "Frida Revisited." This photograph reflects a dialogue between Ishiuchi and Frida, as a woman and artist, confronting the owner's absence and, at the same time, the lingering traces of life.
Frida is gone. She left behind many vivid self-portraits, depicting herself covered in tears and blood, or suffering from multiple miscarriages. Unlike the vivid depictions of sadness and suffering that Frida herself portrayed with her paintbrush, the belongings of Frida, long since lost, exist quietly in photographs. As these objects quietly encapsulate the past, love, and pain, what words of Frida do you hear and what images do you imagine?
In the summer of 2015, a documentary film, "Frida Kahlo's Legacy: Ishiuchi Miyako, Weaving," was released, following Ishiuchi Miyako as she photographed Frida's belongings. However, the photographs taken during this time were only published as a photo book by an overseas publisher under the title "Frida by Ishiuchi." Therefore, this book is the first to be published in Japan. However, the photographs included in "Frida by Ishiuchi" and "Frida: Love and Pain" are different. The photo exhibition "Frida is" is being held at the Shiseido Gallery in Ginza from June 28th to August 21st, and 31 photographs selected from both "Frida by Ishiuchi" and "Frida: Love and Pain" are on display. Please take a look at that as well.
【Book Information】
"Frida: Love and Pain"
Author: Ishiuchi Miyako (Contribution: Kirino Natsuo)
Publisher: Iwanami Shoten
Format: A4 / Hardcover / Cover / 112 pages
Price: 3,800 yen
【Exhibition Information】
Ishiuchi Miyako Exhibition "Frida is"
Venue: Shiseido Gallery
Address: Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building B1F, 8-8-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Dates: June 28th to August 21st
Hours: Weekdays 11:00-19:00, Sundays and holidays 11:00-18:00
Admission: Free
