Love, Loss and Photography: The Ravens of Masahisa Fukase

I hope the day never comes when I seek comfort in the solitude of Ravens.

Often times, work that move me most are ‘unfortunately’ those that depict turmoil and tragedy in the lives of the person who made the photographs. It is when we are at our most vulnerable that we are the most honest. And the epitome of honesty and tragedy is Karasu – Solitude Of Ravens, by Masahisa Fukase.

Karasu was selected by British Journal of Photography as one of the best photo books of the past 25 years. I was fortunate enough to browse a friend’s first edition copy, currently valued over usd$3,000 on the collectors’ market. Karasu is a brutal, yet beautiful mourning of love and loss. Masahisa spent 10 years obsessively photographing ravens upon returning to his hometown in Hokkaido after his wife left him. The photographs and the way they are inflicted on the viewer feel erratic and impulsive, much like the way love sometimes is.

Karasu was the last book Masahisa personally made. He fell into a coma after suffering a serious fall in 1992, and passed away in 2012.