Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective

Fri 06 Oct 2023 - Sun 11 Feb 2024

"Unmissable" (The Guardian) - the first UK retrospective of one of the world’s most innovative and influential artists and street photographers.

Black and white photograph of a group of men sunbathing, laying in a row next to each other wearing swimming trunks

Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective

Fri 06 Oct 2023 - Sun 11 Feb 2024

"Unmissable" (The Guardian) - the first UK retrospective of one of the world’s most innovative and influential artists and street photographers.

This event is part of our Past Programme

Final weekend!

We're expecting it to be really busy - especially 2-4pm. We recommend visiting earlier or booking in advance to avoid disappointment.

So good.

- Time Out

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For more than sixty years, Daido Moriyama (森山 大道 b. 1938) has used his camera to interrogate and revolutionise the way we look at the world with his dense, grainy images. Even today, Moriyama’s pioneering artistic spirit and visual intensity remain groundbreaking. 

The exhibition traces the path of a photographer who transformed the way we see photography and questioned the very nature of photography itself.

Interview with exhibition curators - Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective

Forget everything you’ve learned on the subject of photography for the moment, and just shoot. Take photographs - of anything and everything, whatever catches your eye. Don’t pause to think.

- Daido Moriyama

The retrospective focuses on different moments of Moriyama’s vast and productive career -  beginning with his early works for Japanese magazines, interest in the American occupation, and engagement with photorealism. The show then moves through to his work from the self-reflexive period in the 1980s and 1990s, following on to his explorations of the essence of photography and of his own self, reflecting on reality, memory and cities through tireless documentation and the reinvention of his own archive. 

Fittingly, Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective, brings together more than 200 works and large-scale installations, as well as many of Moriyama’s rare photobooks and magazines, for the first time in the UK. One floor of the gallery has been transformed into a reading room - a dedicated space offering a rare opportunity to spend time with his legendary publications.

Immerse yourself in Moriyama’s world at The Photographers’ Gallery, showing until 11 February 2024. Tickets available now

Black and white photograph of a dog with turned head

7 things to know about Moriyama

Learn more in this quick guide about Moriyama, a name synonymous with avant-garde photography.

 

Read more

Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective was curated by Thyago Nogueira, Instituto Moreira Salles. 

Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective is the product of a three-year research period, and is one of the most comprehensive exhibitions ever mounted of this artist’s work. It is organised by Instituto Moreira Salles in cooperation with the Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.

Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective Reading Room supported by Ellen Yiwei Wang.

Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective is supported by

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Own a print

Prints from this exhibition are available from our Print Sales, prices from £1,250 + VAT. All profits from Print Sales support the public exhibitions programme at The Photographers' Gallery.

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Become a member

Members enjoy free, unlimited access to all our exhibitions, whilst supporting our educational programmes. Your support helps to provide a home for the next generation of photographers.

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Exhibition posters and book cover for the Moriyama show

Shop the exhibition

An incredible selection of books, magazines and exhibition posters are available to shop online or in store now, including signed copies. The impressive exhibition volume features more than 190 chronologically arranged images that reveal Moriyama's constantly evolving career, which reframes his legacy, and is certain to become the definitive publication on Moriyama's work.

Buy now