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OMORI Katsumi 大森克己

Salsa Gumtape is a documentary series focusing on a rock band of the same name. The band was formed in 1994 by a group of people from Hadano Seikaen, a facility for the mentally disabled located in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture. OMORI Katsumi (b. 1963) began attending the band’s rehearsals and concerts, and taking pictures of them in 1996 before publishing the results in a photo book in 1998. In a diary entry for one photo shoot, he wrote, “There’s no center. I’m not sure whether this is liberating or restricting. They seem like they’re going to fall apart at any minute but they never do. Punk. The power of having something pressed against my throat. They are amazingly united in their will to survive.” Along with its sympathetic perspective, the series, based on the relationship between the band’s members, includes many shots that capture the overall place from behind, creating a complex sense of distance between the photographer and his subjects. In this work, OMORI explores a style of photography that is free from preconceived notions and considers the way in which people deal with each other.

Collection of: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Series title: Salsa Gumtape
Title
Artist Name: OMORI Katsumi
Year: 1997
Material / Technique: Chromogenic print
Dimensions: 227x286mm
Accession number: 10113073
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum “Search the Collection”: https://collection.topmuseum.jp/Publish/detailPage/47527/