Born in Ibaraki, Japan in 1933. He graduated from Rokkyo University, Faculty of Economics and joined the Shinchosha in 1955. He became a freelance photographer and co-founded the VIVO collective in 1959 together with Akira Sato, Akira Tanno, Shomei Tomatsu, Ikko Narahara and Eikoh Hosoe.

In 1965 he released The Map, a groundbreaking photobook loaded with postwar political metaphor, and he continues to challenge our intellect with similarly fresh and clairvoyant images to this day. Kawada describes his work as “an expression of a specific scene in time and my relationship to it, framed accordingly, and the style born from the exchange.” These days Kawada can be found posting images and photographic musings to his Instagram account.

Exhibitions at PGI

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