Kazuo Sumida - Notes from Underground: Memories of My Uncle

Kazuo Sumida... Untitled (Gelatin silver print). From the exhibition Kazuo Sumida - Notes from Underground: Memories of My Uncle at Laurence Miller Gallery. "... Notes from Underground: Memories of My Uncle records Sumida’s personal journey into darkness, from the death of his father in 1984 until the death of his uncle in 1990. Born in 1952, Sumida has spent most of his life in Kochi Prefecture, originally called Tosa, in southern Japan. Upon his father’s death, Sumida suffered a period of depression and frustration. He sought refuge in the night. To avoid ongoing turf wars between yakuza gangs, and easily angered patrons of Kochi’s pleasure district, he began shooting with infrared film and a filtered strobe flash, unseen by the human eye. He later photographed in Nobara, a downtown gay bar. There for the first time he met his uncle, his mother’s brother, who was a performer at the bar. With the protection of his uncle, who died of alcoholism at the age of 56, Sumida photographed extensively at Nobara." More... Works by Kazuo Sumida at his personal site.