Taka Ishii (Bookstore) - Ginza

My last visit in Tokyo was to a bookstore, just a short walk from my hotel. There are several Taka Ishii bookstores across the city, but this one is often recommended for its wider selection of art books and its small exhibition space.

That day, there was no photography exhibition. Instead, paintings and sculptures filled the room. After a quiet look around and some unhurried browsing, I reached the photography section.

Books and Colors. Writing paints, canvas tells

The first shelf I came across was dedicated to books about women, many with rather suggestive covers. Of course, the female nude has long been a central theme in photography, as in painting, and many of these works have undeniable artistic value.

Yet as a woman, I can’t help but feel uneasy seeing our bodies so often objectified, and how what is called “the artist’s gaze” too often translates into an aestheticized male gaze.

Cleavage and Schoolgirls. Femininity, still framed in the same old cliché.

Thankfully, the other shelves on Photography offered a much broader range. There was a particularly fine selection of works by Japanese photographers, including some signed copies. I only wished there were a few armchairs to sit and leaf through the books more comfortably.

Japanese photographers. Signed books: the artist’s hand on the page.

Still, the publications felt somewhat conventional. I had expected to find more artist’s books, where the book itself becomes a work of creation. I made myself a note to visit some publishers later. Although Galerie Bokeh will be a non-profit space and our publishing ambitions remain modest, I hope our books will be both innovative and inspiring. Beyond a simple printed record of the exhibitions, I’d like them to offer something more: a visual, editorial, perhaps even tactile experience.