Kenmochi, Mayaku. Shobo 1963 DROGEN DRUGS JAPAN

Kenmochi, Kazuo. Mayaku. Foto dkyumento. (Narcotics: Photographic Document). Tokyo, Inoue Shobo (1963). 4° (26,5 x 19,2 cm.). 157, (2) S. mit teils ganzs. Abb. OPbd. mit illustr. OU. in Orig.-Versandkarton.

Heiting/Kaneko 370, 280. Parr/Badger III, 82. – Erste Ausgabe der ersten Fotodokumentation zum Drogenkonsum in Japan. – 1972 und 1973 erschienen aktuellisierte Neuausgaben. – „One of the most remarkable aspects of Kazuo Kenmochi’: Narcotic Photographic Document is the date of publication 1963. The book came out at a time when the world at large was only gradually becoming aware of the problems of narcotics, and the issue was not yet the headine news that it would become only a few short years later. At that time, drugs were still something wayward that people such as jazz musicians did – that is, drug-taking was seen by the mainstream as being confined largely to the ‚other‘. Kenmochi blasts through all this and identifies drug addiction as a serious and growing problem in a classic of investigative photojournalism. The book Iooks at every aspect of drugs, from their production their distribution, the mechanics of the business and the reaction of the law. His photographs are accompanied by a comprehensive text that contains statistical diagrams and objective sociological analysis. The text is the sober part of the work, somewhat at odds with the best of Kenmochi’s photographs, which are both expressive and intimate, with something of conspiratorial air of Larry Clark“ (Parr/Badger). – Schutzumschlag am Kapital etwas berieben und mit kl. Löchlein am hinteren Gelenk, Deckelschild des Versandkartons etwas berieben, sehr gutes Exemplar.