Nobuyoshi Araki: Sentimental Journey, Winter Journey

spine and slipcase of Sentimental Journey, Winter Journey, 1991 © Nobuyoshi ArakiNobuyoshi Araki’s Sentimental Journey, Winter Journey has always been on my list of desired books. I came across a copy recently that wasn’t out of my price range and went for it. As I’ve mentioned before, this book has two parts: “Sentimental Journey” includes photos of Araki’s honeymoon with his wife Yoko and “Winter Journey” is a photo diary of Yoko’s final months before passing away in January of 1990. Araki once said of this work and of his wife,

If I hadn’t documented her death, both the description of my state of mind and my declaration of love would have been incomplete. I found consolation in unmasking lust and loss, by staging a bitter confrontation between symbols. After Yoko’s death, I didn’t want to photograph anything but life - honestly. Yet every time I pressed the button, I ended up close to death, because to photograph is to stop time.

A year after Yoko’s death, he published the book. Yoko, 1971 (from “Sentimental Journey”) © Nobuyoshi Araki What is inside is beautiful, honest and touching, unlike any other work by Araki.