Keizō Kitajima

Keizō Kitajima (b. 1954) is a Japanese photographer whose work emerged from the late-1970s Tokyo scene centred on the CAMP gallery and the broader post-Provoke generation. His Photo Express Tokyo (1979) — a twelve-part series of monthly photographic booklets distributed in connection with a year-long exhibition — remains one of the defining serial photobook projects of the period. Working with high-contrast flash photography in nocturnal urban environments, Kitajima developed an approach in which the printed surface becomes as much the subject as the scene it records. The series was reissued in facsimile by Steidl and Le Bal in 2012.

  • `Keizō Kitajima — 東京 No. 2 (Tokyo No. 2), Photo Express Tokyo, February 1979. Front cover. High-contrast black and white photograph of two figures in close proximity, faces partially obscured, one in a leather jacket, set against a dark ground with diagonal structural elements. Title in teal kanji and Latin type upper centre: 東京 No 2. Date and price: 1979. FEBRUARY · 200 YEN. Green circular stamps along foot reading: 写 真 特 急 便 〒 北 島 敬 三 (Photo Express Mail, Kitajima Keizō).` `Keizō Kitajima — Photo Express Tokyo No. 2, February 1979 — interior plate. High-contrast black and white photograph of a woman seated at low angle, wearing a floral-patterned qipao dress, platform shoes, and a wide-brimmed hat. Face tilted upward, smiling, body angled toward camera. Flash-bleached highlights against deep black ground. Tokyo nightlife, 1979.`

    Keizō Kitajima — Photo Express Tokyo No. 2, February 1979

    Keizō Kitajima — Photo Express Tokyo No. 2, February 1979