Small Biography

hysteric Sixteen╱Small Biography — Shoji Ueda

Shoji Ueda’s hysteric Sixteen revisits Small Biography, the thirteen-part series published in Camera Mainichi between 1974 and 1985. Predominantly framed through the quiet geometry of the Hasselblad 6×6 format, the photographs move among children, students, rural communities, houses, animals, found objects, rediscovered prewar negatives and Ueda’s own hospital experience.

Each image carries the concentration of a brief encounter. Direct gazes, hesitant gestures and Ueda’s restrained humor are held within near-square frames, while the sequence allows faces, structures, silhouettes and everyday objects to form subtle visual correspondences across the page.

Published by Hysteric Glamour in 2006 as the sixteenth volume of its numbered photobook series, the edition is bound in yellow cloth with a tipped-in black-and-white photograph and was issued with a clear plastic jacket. Refined duotone printing gives the older negatives, portraits and quiet landscapes a broad and tactile tonal range. The book includes commentary in Japanese and English by French photography critic Gabriel Bauret.

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