JAL series - prints

Archival pigment print on baryta paper
Edition of 10 + 2AP
Prices include 19% German VAT

Greg Girard
Canadian, born 1955
Greg Girard is a photographer who has spent much of his career in Asia, first visiting Hong Kong in 1974, and later living in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. He became a professional photographer in 1987, based first in Hong Kong and later in Shanghai. Greg Girard's work to date has examined the social and physical transformations taking place throughout the region. In 1993 he co-authored (with Ian Lambot) "City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City", a record in photographs and text of the final years of Hong Kong's infamous Walled City, demolished in 1992.

From artist statement: "When I first arrived in Tokyo in April, 1976 the plan was to spend a few days and then continue on to SE Asia. I decided to stow my luggage at the airport that first night so I could just wander around. I had no idea where I was going to stay. I took the monorail from Haneda airport into the city and then rode the circle of the Yamanote line around Tokyo. When I arrived at Shinjuku I got off the train. It seemed the brightest, noisiest and most crowded part of town. I spent the night wandering around Shinjuku and nearby neighborhoods and by morning I knew I wanted to stay. It's perhaps worth pointing out that in 1976 there was nothing to prepare a first-time visitor for Tokyo. "BladeRunner-esque" had yet to enter the language. At the time the notion that the future had arrived, and was alive and well in an Asian city, was simply not known. And so, to stumble across it was thrilling and eye-opening."