NU・E (Signed)

Asako Narahashi's first photo book. This book contains works from the "NU・E" exhibition, which was held 17 times consecutively at the independent gallery 03FOTOS from 1992 to 1997.

Asako Narahashi participated in Daido Moriyama's workshop "Photo Session" in the mid-1980s and held her first solo exhibition "Haru wa Akebono" (Spring is Dawn) in 1989. In 1990, she opened Gallery 03FOTOS as a venue to showcase her own work. This book, "NU・E," compiles the monochrome works continuously exhibited at 03FOTOS.

Stone statues, signboards, display windows, crows, geckos, parks, animals, and living creatures placed in the city. Things found in everyday landscapes are captured with a somewhat uncanny presence. As the title "NU・E" suggests, the work captures the mysterious, slimy presence lurking in cities and suburbs, without settling into a single form.

Fragments of familiar cityscapes, depending on how they are framed, the light, and the distance, rise up like different living creatures. This is a collection of works that engraves Asako Narahashi's early gaze, different from her water-themed works that later led to "half awake and half asleep in the water." It is a book that gazes at the abnormal lurking in the city, at the boundary between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

Signed by the artist.

[Title] NU・E / NARAHASHI Asako PHOTOGRAPHS 1992-1997
[Publisher] Sohkyu-Sha & Mole
[Publication Date] November 22, 1997
[Number of Pages] 120 pages
[Size] Approx. 230 x 288 x 15mm / 921g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese, English
[Title Reading] NUE
[Author/Editor] Asako Narahashi / Author, Hajime Hashimoto / Design, Akemi Sato / Design, Michitaka Ohta / Editor
[Printing] Tada Printing Co., Ltd. / Printing
[ISBN] -
[Condition] Used, signed and dated on the endpaper [6] Good to Average (Cover: slight stains on back, Body: slight stains on top edge)
[Accessories] -
[Featured in] -
[Related Exhibitions] "NU・E" (03FOTOS, 1992-1997), "NU・E : New Selections from 1992–1997 Exhibitions @03FOTOS" (The Third Gallery Aya, 2017)

Asako Narahashi (born 1959)

Born in Tokyo in 1959. Photographer.

Graduated from Waseda University's Second Faculty of Letters, Department of Fine Arts. While enrolled, she participated in Daido Moriyama's "Photo Session" workshop in the mid-1980s. In 1989, she held her first solo exhibition "Haru wa Akebono," and in 1990, she opened Gallery 03FOTOS as a venue to showcase her own work.

She began the "NU・E" series in late 1992 and exhibited it 17 times at 03FOTOS. In 1997, her first photo book, "NU・E," was published by Sohkyu-Sha. In 2003, she published "Funiculi Funicula," a collection of color snapshots. Around 2000, she began photographing scenes from the water's surface, and these works were published in "half awake and half asleep in the water" in 2007.

Known for co-founding the photography magazine "main" with Miyako Ishiuchi, she continues to pursue independent activities both in Japan and abroad, centered around publishing photo books, solo exhibitions, and curated exhibitions.

Her major works include "NU・E," "Funiculi Funicula," "half awake and half asleep in the water," "Chikazuite wa Tozakaru" (Approaching and Drifting Away), "Ever After," "Gypsum," and "Haru wa Akebono."

Her major awards include the Photographic Society of Japan Newcomer's Award (1998), the Shashin no Kai Award (2004), and the Higashikawa Award Domestic Artist Award (2008).

Her works are collected by institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai Art Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum, Higashikawa, Hokkaido, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Museum of Photography, Hyères, BankART 1929, and the Joy of Giving Something Foundation.

< Related Figures >

Daido Moriyama, Miyako Ishiuchi, The Third Gallery Aya, main