KILL THE PIG

In 1961, Masahisa Fukase’s first solo exhibition,Kill the Pig, was held in Tokyo. The exhibition presents two series of photographs: one, entitledKill the Pig and the other, entitledNaked.

TheKill the Pig series reveals photographs taken in a slaughterhouse in Shibaura, Tokyo. It includes both black and white and color photographs.

One of the photographs in the exhibition nevertheless stands out from the others. This dead baby is a very contrasting work that consists of two prints, one positive, the other negative, two inverted black and white images, presented face to face. This stillborn baby is the first child of Fukase and Yukiyo. In the exhibition, this work is clearly highlighted as a reference point for all other images. It seems that Fukase is trying through this image to underline, in a positive and negative way, the cruelty and interconnection between life and death.

This book gathers in one volume the photographs that appeared in this exhibition. As he explains in his essay, Tomo Kosuga sees these images, which have remained in the shadows for many years, as the starting point for Fukase’s photographic practice.

limited edition of 1010 copies