The photographer’s Portrait of J tells an unfiltered story of the ordinary people who make up the social and cultural fabric of contemporary Japan
Over the last four decades, Japanese photographer Takashi Homma has built a name for himself shooting global fashion campaigns, publishing a prolific number of books, and documenting life within his hometown of Tokyo. Portrait of J is the latest addition to that extensive body of work, published by New York-based Dashwood Books.
With 111 intimate colour portraits on plain white paper featuring locals and residents from all walks of life – including family, friends and fellow Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama – Homma tells an unfiltered story of the ordinary people who make up Japan. They‘re portraits that focus on the raw emotion of his subjects, guided by empathy and a desire to showcase people as they are.
The honesty and simplicity of Portrait of J has long been a hallmark of Homma‘s work, and extends to the descriptions of the portraits in the book, which only state each person’s occupation – an idea he says was lifted from German photographer August Sander’s 1929 book, Face of Our Time, which similarly captured ordinary people within interwar Germany.
The earliest photographs in Portrait of J date back to 2002, but the idea for the book only solidified about two years ago, Homma says, after he came across the 1982 album by classical guitarist John C Williams, titled Portrait of John Williams. A record composed of classical instrumentals, it’s likewise a work stripped back to its purest form, leaving the meaning and emotion up to the audience’s interpretation.
Homma is also a musician – he plays piano and guitar – and his love of music is often woven through his work; in 2023, his exhibition Revolution 9, at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, borrowed its title from the Beatles song of the same name, and featured pieces that focused on improvisation and used entire hotel rooms as giant camera obscuras.
His latest project documents a society he believes is in silent crisis. “In 2024, Japan lost nearly one million people, mainly due to the deaths of elderly citizens and the declining birth rate,” he says. “If things continue this way, Japan will soon face a super-aged society unlike anything humanity has ever experienced.”
Portrait of J by Takashi Homma, published by Dashwood Books, is out now.
