Peepers

Kohei Yoshiyuki’s pictures from the 1970s of peepers spying on lovers in Tokyo parks are extremely off-putting. We see peeping Toms raptly eyeing their prey; we see some who can’t control themselves and thrust a hand into the works; and we realize that Yoshiyuki was also compelled to be there at the same time, finding his own way in with a tiny camera and an infrared flash so he could snap these Weegee-esque pictures unnoticed.

Yoshiyuki’s photographs are about sex at its most transfixing and compulsive, yet the act itself remains hidden, the focus of every gaze but ours. Although they may have removed their shoes and unzipped their pants, the men, both participants and observers, appear fully clothed. The women, with their skirts and blouses hiked up, are more exposed, but even here the display of flesh is surprisingly discreet. Yoshiyuki shows just enough to seduce the viewer–a tantalizing flash. The work’s erotic charge is generated less by what we see than by what we imagine is going on. We may not be scrambling across the grass and peering through the bushes, but once we begin trying to untangle those limbs (Is that his arm or hers? Is she on top?), we’re no longer innocent observers. Leaning in for a closer look, we’ve joined the lurking voyeurs.

Filed under: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY