Kiyoshi Suzuki (Japan, 1943-2000) began photographing in the late 1960s in Iwaki City, his birthplace. He then worked for thirty years in relative isolation. Suzuki's way of putting books together, layer upon layer upon layer, has become his unique approach. It stands at the heart of the retrospective book and exhibition, which show the enormous wealth of unrivalled photographs that he left behind.

Machiel Botman about Suzuki in Soul and Soul 1969-1999:

The work of Kiyoshi Suzuki is about two things. The first is the photographs: magisterial images that demand their right to exist, in and of themselves. But for Suzuki that was not enough. The world also had to be a partner in the process that led to the image and to how he put everything in a broader context. He began with this in a quiet, minimal manner and developed it into an explosion of pictures and book dummies. Between these two termini lay a life full of twists and turns, that all had to do with photography.

'These are intriguing photographs. Rich in contrast and sometimes almost surreal. Suzuki knew how to be dramatic and theatrical without giving up the simplicity of the image or seeming affected.
But the best thing about the exhibition by far is the book. [...] a publication that does justice to an artist both in form and content - one would wish that all photobooks were made with the same care and dedication.' Merel Bem, De Volkskrant, 12 March 2008

This book appears on the occasion of the exhibition Soul and Soul 1969-1999 in the Noorderlicht Photogallery (March 8 through April 27, 2008) (click here).