THE VOID

Naoki Ishikawa's photo book "THE VOID". This photobook, published in 2005 by Nieves Media Japan, compiles works taken in the primeval forest of New Zealand's North Island, a sacred place for the indigenous Māori people. Ishikawa himself later described it as his "starting point for deciding to live as a photographer," and it contains 31 selected pieces from his approximately one and a half month stay.

The background to the photography is Ishikawa's fieldwork on traditional navigation techniques in the Pacific Islands, which he had been pursuing since his student days. This navigation involves reading one's position from natural phenomena such as stars, wind, currents, and birds to cross the ocean, without using charts or compasses. Ishikawa visited Hector Busby, a Māori elder who had mastered these techniques, and learned about the existence of the primeval forest where kauri, giant trees used as material for canoes, grew. He then ventured deep into the forest.

In the forest, he felt a sense of "void" like a vacuum, despite the pervasive signs of life. "VOID" can mean "space," "infinity," or "gap." As he spent time observing everything from the massive trees to the plants at his feet and their leaf veins, Ishikawa came to the feeling that "one forest is all forests, and all forests are one forest." Just as canoes born in the forest cross the sea and eventually decay and return to the forest, this book portrays the forest not as a closed place, but as a place connected to the sea, islands, and the past and future of that land.

The end of the book includes "One Forest is All Forests" by Toshiharu Ito. Ito focuses on the hollows and air pocket-like spaces appearing in the photographs, interpreting them as traces of human attitudes facing invisible natural forces. In 2005, he held an exhibition with the same name, "THE VOID," at Shinjuku Nikon Salon, and for this work, he received the 8th Jun Miki Award in 2006.

[Title] THE VOID
[Publisher] Nieves Media Japan
[Publication Date] September 20, 2005 (1st printing)
[Page Count] -
[Size] Approx. 333×267×10mm / 695g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] ZA VOIDO
[Author/Editor] Naoki Ishikawa / author, Toshiharu Ito / commentary, Akihiro Hatanaka / editor, Yoko Inoue / design
[Printing/Binding] Dai Nippon Printing / printing
[ISBN] 4931407609
[Condition] Used 【5】Good (minor stains on all three sides, minor scuff on spine corner)
[Accessories] -
[Featured In] -
[Related Exhibition] "THE VOID" Shinjuku Nikon Salon, Tokyo, 2005

Naoki Ishikawa (1977–)

Born in Tokyo in 1977. Photographer.

Graduated from Waseda University's Second Faculty of Letters in 2002. Completed his master's degree in fine arts at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School in 2005, and his doctoral degree at the same graduate school in 2008. Interested in anthropology, ethnology, and other fields, he continues to create photographic and written works while traveling to various places, from cities to remote areas.

Since his student days, he has conducted fieldwork on traditional navigation techniques in the Pacific Islands and has also experienced human-powered expeditions from the Arctic to the Antarctic and mountaineering to high peaks around the world. In 2005, he published "THE VOID," and in 2006, he received the 8th Jun Miki Award for the same work.

In 2008, he received the Photographic Society of Japan's Newcomer Award and the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award for "NEW DIMENSION" and "POLAR." In 2011, he received the Domon Ken Award for "CORONA," and in 2020, the Photographic Society of Japan's Artist Award for "EVEREST" and "Marebito." In 2023, he received the Higashikawa Award Special Artist Award.

His photo books include "POLE TO POLE - The Wind Connecting the Poles -," "ARCHIPELAGO," "K2," "SAKHALIN," "EVEREST," and "MOMENTUM." His works are held in collections at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the Yokohama Museum of Art, the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, and the Domon Ken Memorial Museum of Photography.

< Related Figures >

Toshiharu Ito
Akihiro Hatanaka
Hector Busby
Nikon Salon
Nieves Media Japan