Kusukazu Uraguchi

Born in 1922 in Fuseda, Shima (Mie prefecture), Kusukazu Uraguchi attended secondary school before being employed by Mitsubishi Electric, Nagoya, then sent to a post office in Manchuria. Drafted into the army in 1944, he returned to Shima after the war and took over the family business, transforming it into a workshop and trade in pearl accessories. The publication of one of his images in Camera Mainichi in 1956 marked his debut as a photographer. In 1965, he was included for the first time in one of the Nika Association's annual exhibitions, and won first prize at the Salon Nikkor in 1968. From 1972, his photographs were regularly published in the monthly magazines Camera Mainichi, Nippon Camera and Photo Art. Solo exhibitions followed in 1976 and 1977, in Nagoya, Tokyo, Fukuoka and Osaka. 1978 saw the publication of his first book, Shima Fukodi (selfpublished), followed by Shima no Ama (Nippon Camera, Tokyo) in 1982. Between 1984 and 1988, he had several solo exhibitions abroad: in Bologna (Galleria Lotti), Amsterdam (Canon Photo Gallery), Chicago (University of Illinois), as well as in Paris and several French cities (Fnac gallery network). Uraguchi died of pneumonia in 1988.