Shinya Arimoto

Ariphoto (2006-2014)

Shinya Arimoto is an indefatigable street photographer who does not get tired of photographing Tokyo, a metropolis he has been documenting since 2006, “seeking out an unrefined or rudimentary, even primitive, kind of life, always in transition.” In order to do this, he puts to good use his special talent for finding the most picturesque and eccentric people, and embarks in a kind of face-hunt to create a dynamic portrait of Tokyo.

Italo Calvino invented a city that was simultaneously celibate and promiscuous: “A voluptuous vibration constantly stirs Chloe, the most chaste of cities. If men and women began to live their ephemeral dreams, every phantom would become a person with whom to begin a story of pursuits, pretenses, misunderstandings, clashes, oppressions, and the carousel of fantasies would stop.”

A voyeur in his adopted city, Arimoto’s street portraits manage to encapsulate Tokyo’s ecosystem and its carousel of fantasies.