Inspired in part by 'Diary of a Century' by Jacques Henri Lartigue whom he met at Avedon Studio, Ken Ohara's 1972 'Self Portrait 365/Diary' features a daily self-portrait which he...
Inspired in part by "Diary of a Century" by Jacques Henri Lartigue whom he met at Avedon Studio, Ken Ohara's 1972 "Self Portrait 365/Diary" features a daily self-portrait which he calls "my inward view of the day" paired with a shot of landscape/figure/still-life ("my outward view of the day") on the same day over the course of eight and a half month. The work, a collection of 35mm contact prints and shown as a miniature folded book, reveals the intimate documentation of himself, his wife, and his inner circle in New York City from March 15 to December 28, 1972, during the volatile era of the early 1970s.
This experimental work is an early prototype of the artist's ongoing "365/Diary" series initiated in 1970; Ohara accomplished his first daily photo journal throughout the year. He began this project again in 1972 after he returned to New York City from a year-long sojourn and was encouraged by Marvin Israel. Unfortunately, he lost contact prints between October and November, and therefore these sections were left blank in this work. In 2000, he restarted the "365" project, and it has continued for 23 years since then without interruption. He names the project by years: "365-part 1" "365- part 2" and so on. Ohara keeps the same format, size, and organization for all 365/Diary projects.
This work was premiered at "Ken Ohara: Extreme Portraits" an exthibition at MIYAKO YOSHINAGA in 2017. Ohara's "365" (1970) now entitled "365-Part 1" was exhibited in three German museums during a 2006/2007 traveling exhibition "Ken Ohara: Extended Portrait Studies." These venues were: Museum Folkwang, Essen; Stadtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany; Fotomuseum in Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich.