One of the most poetic and mysterious photographic projects of the post-1945 period, Fukase Masahisa's 'Karasu' [Ravens] is here examined in relation to the photographer's entire body of work, his writings, interviews with his family and friends, and consideration of the influence of loss, melancholia, and psychological instability in his art. Although Fukase remains associated with the 'personal photography' movement of the 1960s and 1970s, it is argued that he was, above all, a committed experimenter in photographic narration and self-representation, factors important to the reading and understanding of 'Karasu'. Claims that the ravens in Fukase's images symbolically represent a life now regarded as tragically sorrowful and ill-fated are evaluated and partly challenged.
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