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The Map.
Photographs by Kikuji Kawada.
Nazraeli Press, Tucson, 2005. 49 pp., 23 four-panel b&w gatefolds., 9x6".
Over the past decade we have been witnessing the birth
of a new academic discipline—the study of the history of
the photographic book. Originally published on August
6, 1965—the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of
Hiroshima—The Map ("Chizu") by Kikuji Kawada is one of
those milestones in photobook publishing that lands on
everyone’s list of the most
important photobooks ever. It
has appeared in Roth’s Book of
101 Books, where Vince Aletti
applies his keen insights and
elegant writing style to critique
of the work, as well as in Martin
Parr and Gerry Badger’s The
Photobook: A History, Volume 1.
The selection committee commissioned by the
Hasselblad Center to curate an exhibition on the history
of the photographic book, entitled The open Book (the
catalogue to which is reviewed on p. 29), also readily
placed the book among the select few worthy of inclusion.
What makes The Map so important is the masterfully
distilled experience this book object presents. Post
WWII Japanese artists necessarily had to confront the
specter of war on both a personal and societal level. The
issues were dizzyingly complex—they had been defeated,
humiliated, occupied, and bore the ignominious brand of
being the only people upon which the Atomic bomb had
been used. Kawada attempted to tackle that dark legacy
head on. The photographs in this book (printed so heavily
that the book reeks of ink the minute you open it) are
primarily of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial
Exhibition Hall, originally constructed in 1915 as a base for
promoting the sale of goods produced in Hiroshima
Prefecture. The building was at ground zero of the atomic
bomb blast, which ravaged the building instantly,
killing everyone within. The dome and many of the walls
were left standing, it is believed, because the blast
reached the building from directly above. The entire
ground zero acreage has been turned into a war memorial,
with this building at the center. Kawada photographed
details of the dome and the charred, burned
walls, rendering the abstract textures and forms nearly
incomprehensible save for their reminiscence of burned
flesh. Every other page is a double fold out, which slows
the viewing process down to a methodical ritual. The reissue
is altered only slightly from the original. DARIUS HIMES
Read Publisher's Description.
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