Nobuyoshi Araki | Kinbaku

Nobuyoshi Araki at Rudolf Budja Gallery

Nobuyoshi Araki (荒木 経惟 Araki Nobuyoshi), also known by the nickname Arākī (アラーキー) is most likely the most popular Japanese photographer. He is best known for his images of woman tied in Japanese Rope bondage, but has shown that Eros can be found anywhere by creating highly sexualized images from flowers to water-taps to cracks in the ground.

Why do they come across as erotic? Because I shot them. That’s what my photos are. *

He became famous for “Un Voyage Sentimental” (1971), a series of photos depicting both banal and deeply intimate scenes of his wife during their honeymoon. Particulary fascinated by the Japanese art of rope bondage, Kinbaku (Shibari), many of his works are depict Japanese women, often in traditional dress, hanging in suspension or sitting on floors, staring silently back at the camera.

“Kinbaku”, a series from 1979, featured 101 photographs of women in rope bondage and was followed by countless series of Kinbaku imagery. He typically works in black-and-white photography or polaroids, and his hallmark style is deliberately casual.

“Rather than shooting something that looks like a professional photograph, I want my work to feel intimate, like someone in the subject’s inner circle shot them,” he says.

The Rudolf Budja Gallery in Miami Beach has currently an exquisite selection of Gelatin silver prints by Araki on display, many of them dedicated to Kinbaku.

Nobuyoshi Araki at Rudolf Budja Gallery Dec 7th, 2017 – Jan 30th, 2018 | Miami Beach, 1330 18th Street

* in an interview with vice.
All images from Nobuyoshi Araki at Rudolf Budja Gallery via artsy