EM Club #28

Maker(s)
Artist: Ishiuchi Miyako (born 1947)
Historical period(s)
Heisei era, ca. 1990
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Purchase and partial gift from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection — Acquisition fund in honor of Julian Raby, director emeritus of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Accession Number
S2018.2.113
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Photograph
Type

Photograph

Keywords
Gloria Katz and Willard M. Huyck Jr. collection, Heisei era (1989 - present), Japan
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

After World War II, Yokosuka became the site of a controversial US naval base and an important subject for postwar photographers. The city cast a long shadow over much of Ishiuchi Miyako’s work. Born in 1947, Ishiuchi moved to Yokosuka at age six and spent over a decade fearing and hating the place. She began returning in the 1970s to document it, driven by her traumatic experience as a young woman growing up near an American military base.

Shooting and printing the images allowed Ishiuchi to grapple with her strong reactions to revisiting her hometown. For her last major series on Yokosuka, she confronted the neighborhood abutting the base and the EM (Enlisted Men’s) Club, which was demolished in 1990. With each grainy, dark print, Ishiuchi manifested her revulsion upon entering such buildings and sensing those who once passed through it.

Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
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