"All your feelings are concentrated in one decisive photograph. That is the power of photography." Kishin Shinoyama Special Interview: "Kishin Shinoyama Exhibition: The Power of Photography THE PEOPLE by KISHIN"
--The "Kishinobu Shinoyama Exhibition: The Power of Photography" has been touring all over the country, and at each venue, a special exhibition of photographs of people with ties to the local area is being held. I heard that at the Yokohama Museum of Art, a photograph of Hibari Misora is one of them. This time, two photographs of Hibari Misora are on display, one of which is a large piece of her sitting on a chair in a room with a Buddhist altar.
Shinoyama : This is a photo of Misora Hibari in her final years. She was in poor health and it was difficult for her to go to the studio, so she asked me to take a photo for her record jacket at her home. So I went to her home and took the photo. The jacket photo was taken in a different room, but when I looked into the next room, there was a huge Buddhist altar and flowers... and behind them were portraits of her father, mother, and siblings hanging on the wall. Almost all of Hibari's family passed away before her. I thought it was an amazing room, so I asked, "Can I take a photo here?" and she said, "Sure."
--So that photo was taken by chance.
Shinoyama : Yes, I took the photos without any intention of publishing them anywhere. They were published in a magazine shortly after Hibari passed away.
--This is a very valuable piece of work.
Shinoyama : When we took that photo, Hibari wasn't in good health. She was sitting on a chair in a Japanese-style room, right? She couldn't sit upright on a cushion anymore. I think she passed away about a year after that. And there was another small photo of Hibari next to it, right? It was taken on the sofa at her home, and that photo is exclusive to the Yokohama venue.
-- Besides Hibari, what other photographs of others will be available to see in Yokohama?
Shinoyama : Yuzu, Mitsuko Kusabue, Daisuke Miura, Riki Takeuchi, Tabaimo, and Eiko Koike. Eiko Koike is not from Yokohama, but this is a photo from when we filmed her DVD, which was themed on Yokohama. We took the photo in front of the Red Brick Warehouse. The lighting of the red bricks is very beautiful.
By the way, which part of Yokohama do you think is the most photogenic?
Shinoyama : There are a lot of photogenic places. I often take photos around the foreign cemetery. The Western-style building is used as a house studio. I often take photos there.
--The natural atmosphere of Yuzu's photos was also wonderful.
Shinoyama : That's right. The girl surrounded by the two members of Yuzu is called "Yuppi" and was still in her teens at the time of the photo (2008) and was singing on the street. That Yuppi came to see this exhibition. She's not singing anymore and is studying to get into university. She said she wanted to be a doctor.
--It must have been very moving for you too. How did you take the photographs of Mitsuko Kusabue?
Shinoyama : Kusabue's photographs are on the fashion pages of a magazine called Kateigaho.
--The photo was taken in 2016. So it was pretty recent.
Shinoyama : That's right. Kusabue-san and I have both been doing this for a long time, but this was our first shoot. It turned out really well...we're veterans after all (laughs).
