The Park

Overview

At night, the public parks of Tokyo’s Shinjuki, Yoyogi and Aoyama districts are to Tokyo as Mt Coot-tha is to Brisbane – the city’s best place to get down with your bad self, at least in the 70s anyway. Photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki would frequent these Japanese parks, equipped with a 35mm camera, infrared film and a flash; with his gear he’d document the clandestine trysts happening behind each bush and bench, as well as the voyeurs who would not only watch, but sometimes participate in the couple’s lewd acts.

The images of the exhibition are raw and candid, exposing a side of Japan that is rarely seen. In its original showing in 1979, the lights of the gallery were turned off and visitors were given flashlights to view the life-size images, giving the viewer a similar experience to what Yoshiyuki had during the time of his project.

The Park is a thought-provoking documentation into a world that exists not only in Tokyo, but in many cities around the world, but is so taboo it is rarely ever discussed, much less documented in a permanent format.

Image credit: Kohei Yoshiyuki