Inose Kou, Complete Works

Published by Getsuyosha in 2015, Inose Kou’s Complete Works contains Kou’s images found in the photographic series Phantasmagoria, Dogra Magra and from the photobook Visions of Japan 1998. Contained within the 250 pages are 140 images portraying Inose Kou’s most iconic images. Images of dissection rooms, human bodies preserved in formaldehyde photographed in different stages of the dissection process echo the abandoned buildings and half cut tree stumps captured in black and white. The strong visual associations to life and death present within the images compiled into this photobook, present a photographic narrative which fully and comprehensively presents viewers Inose Kou’s most recent realized to date. The visually strong images work as emotional and mental cues into the very depths of our memories and innermost feelings. Here what is explored is the unfamiliar and the experiences not yet encountered. Life after death, notions of sanity and the alluring nature of the absurd present a visually stimulating narrative emphases through the almost ghostly effect of Inose Kou’s black and white photography. Born in 1960 in Saitama Japan, Inose Kou is one of Japan’s most highly acclaimed photographers. His works have been exhibited both locally and internationally in Tokyo Yokohama, Ibaraki, Hokkaido, Montreal, Zurich and Essex.