In June 2024, I curated a photo exhibition of Kazuhiro Mido's work from the 1950s and 1960s.
Kazuhiro is not a professional photographer and has never had his work exhibited before, however the quality and breadth of his work suggests that he may have stumbled into these roles nevertheless.
The exhibit was held in Gallery Cha.beya a small gallery constructed inside a renovated tea storeroom in Kazuhiro's hometown of Kasama. Gallery Cha.beya was founded by Shozo Michikawa, an internationally renowned ceramics artist and a resident of sasama.
Kazuhiro's exhibition was the inaugural exhibition at gallery Cha.beya
The photos were presented in four different formats: an enlarged photo as might appear in a fine art gallery, a TV that might be found in an average Japanese living room, a light-box for viewing negatives and a family photo album.
Visitors were encouraged to consider how best to evaluate and celebrate Mido-san’s work through these four different perspectives.
- Tom Slemmons, Curator
About Kazuhiro Mido:
Kazuhiro Mido was born in 1931 in Shizuoka, Japan in the village of Sasama.
Early in his life he worked carrying heavy loads up and down the steep mountain slopes. At the time, there was limited access to medicine so Mido-san, moved to ease the aches and pains of his fellow villagers, opened a pharmacy. No longer working full-time in the mountains, Mido-san found himself with time to observe the daily rhythm of the village.
This new perspective on the village brought a desire to document his observations. Using money saved over nearly 10 years he bought his first camera in 1955. For the next 70 years he documented the culture and the people of Sasama.
Now in his 90s, Mido-san has put his camera down and the thousands of photos he took have been mostly packed away in permanent storage. A few albums of his favorite photos remain in his living room where Mido-san welcomes anyone who wishes to look through his “treasures.”
