In the year that social distancing and self-isolation have entered our daily vernacular, Michael Hoppen Gallery presents Private Scenes, an exhibition of Masahisa Fukase’s late photography which has never appeared more transgressive or relevant than today.
“Berobero’”- an onomatopoeic word referring to both tongues and licking – is the title Fukase gave to his self-portraits in which he touches tongues with friends and strangers alike. Mostly shot in bars around Shinjuku in Tokyo, Fukase’s comrades display a range of reactions; Some close their eyes, strike dramatic poses, laugh or abandon themselves to the act. ¬ Their responses to this provocative, performative display of intimacy are heightened today, when kissing has become a high risk or even forbidden activity.
“There is no difference between the me who does the looking and the person who is being looked at. I started to ask myself what I would look like if the looked-at me also became part of the photograph […] ¬ The subject who looks is also the object looked at. I started to ask myself what I would look like if the looked-at me also became part of the photograph.” – Fukase, 1991.
Masahisa Fukase : Private Scenes
Sep 10th – Oct 24th
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place
London, SW3 3TD
