Kikuji Kawada (川田 喜久治, Kawada Kikuji; born 1933) is a Japanese photographer who co-founded the Vivo photographic collective in 1959. Kawada’s books include Chizu (The Map; 1965) and The Last Cosmology (1995).
The original 1965 edition of Chizu (The Map), widely acclaimed, tracks the “stains” scattered across walls and ceiling of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and the detritus of the war and the American occupation. Kawada projects memories of the war through young soldiers’ portraits and letters, ruined fortresses and the destruction of the bomb. At the same time, his pictures of iron scraps at factories, Lucky Strike boxes brought in by occupation forces, dumped Coca-Cola bottles, and other indicators of recovery after the war, document the process of overall transformation in postwar Japan.
The ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, reflected in the Ohta river. The Ruin of a Stronghold, from the series The Map, 1960-1965The A-Bomb Memorial Dome, Ceiling, Stain and Flaking-Off, from the series The Map, 1960-1965Hinomaru - The Japanese National Flag, from the series The Map, 1960-1965Lucky Strike, from Chizu (The Map), 1960-65
The A-Bomb Memorial Dome, Ceiling, Stain and Flaking-Off, from the series The Map, 1960-1965Everyday objects … Coca-Cola bottles embedded in the ground.90-Year-Old Japanese, A Memorial Decoration from the Showa Emperor, from the series The Map, 1960-1965Photograph of the Special Attack Corps, from the series The Map, 1960-1965A Death by A-Bomb, a Summer Jacket of a Junior High School Boy, from the series The Map, 1960-1965The A-Bomb Memorial Dome, Scribbles by Tourists, from the series The Map, 1960-1965Iron Scraps, from the series The Map, 1960-1965
Kikuji Kawada (川田 喜久治, Kawada Kikuji; born 1933) is a Japanese photographer who co-founded the Vivo photographic collective in 1959. Kawada’s books include Chizu (The Map; 1965) and The Last Cosmology (1995).
