12. 11. 2014 – 20. 12. 2014
The exhibition comprises two themes, Goze and Nishiyama Onsen.
Goze is the name given to blind women who, in order to survive, were obliged, during their whole life, summer and winter, to wend their way from village to village, guided by a sighted woman. At each stop, they played the shamisen, a three-stringed Japanese instrument akin to the banjo, sang traditional airs, or performed musical dramas. This tradition, which had existed for over four hundred years, drew to a close in the nineteen seventies. Over a period of one year, in 1972-73, Shōkō Hashimoto went on the road with a trio of members of the Nagaoka group of goze, to share and record their nomadic way of life.
Also in the seventies, Shōkō Hashimoto documented the communal life of Nishiyama Onsen, a hot spring frequented by the older generation, both men and women, who bathed in the nude, sang, took their meals, and partied together for a week or a month.
Accompanying the photographs is a short video, produced by François Tisseyre of Atelier EcoutezVoir, of Shōkō Hashimoto singing some traditional goze songs.