Behind The Mask
by Chris Mosdell and Ryo Ohwada
A collaboration with the photographer Ryo Ohwada – one hundred “neo-haiku” and a corresponding number of full-colour photographic prints. A beautiful, aesthetic edition — designed by HeyQuicci Harata (who designed YMO’s famed Solid State Survivor album cover) — that illuminates the lyricist’s perspective of what lies behind the Japanese mask — referencing the eponymous song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and covered by Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton. Here are all his observations and experiences — the cultural collectiveness, a nation’s traditions, historic tales, sensuosities, and the Ten Thousand Things flowing through the country that have invigorated his lyrics.
A bilingual edition translated by Ryoichi Ito, with a text by the journalist Eiichi Yoshimura, edited by Tomoya Kumagai and published by Slogan.
Published by SLOGAN / スローガン, 2023
“The startling multifaceted vision of what truly lies “Behind the Mask” in both its traditional and modern context.”
––Eiichi Yoshimura
