Kohei Yoshiyuki - The Park

“The Park” is a series made in the 70′s by the Japanese photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki. Crossing one night Shinjuku’s Chuo park, Kohei Yoshiyuki noticed a couple lying on the floor and, a few meters away, discretely moving closer, two men who observe the pair. He takes his camera but the darkness blurs the image. He then decides to buy Kodak infrared flashbulbs and begins an immersion into the strange world of voyeurism. “The Park” results from this experience. Lovers and spies are caught by the lens which therefore takes part to the scene. The viewers are thus exposed to the same situation. With a certain irony, Kohei Yoshiyuki chose in 1979 to exhibit the series at Tokyo’s Komai Gallery in a complete darkness distributing flashlights to the visitors. As Walker Evans or Weegee, Kohei Yoshiyuki belongs to that caste of photographers who, far away to get satisfied with a contemplative approach, equip themselves to force the moment and, in such a way, transcend the boundaries between public life and intimacy. (via)