Hiro Tanaka’s first visit to America came from his winning an overseas trip at a shopping mall raffle. He started taking pictures when he borrowed a
camera from one of the members of a band he met there and ended up accompanying on tour. He studied photography by partaking in Koji Onaka’s
“Kaido” photography workshop.
Tanaka has received the Shashin Book Award (France) and YET#11 (Switzerland). He has won the Juror’s Prize in the
Daylight Photo Award (USA) and made the short list or been selected as a finalist numerous times including for Kassel Dummy Award (Germany),
Gomma Photography Grant (UK) and Il Reportage Photojournalism Award (Italy). Tanaka is taking part in the residency programs of Denmark and
Latvia.
Tanaka is from Kitakyushu.
The band is touring America. Day after day, it’s a repeated ritual of moving from one town to another, countless encounters, going from a familiar place to somewhere unknown. It’s a life on the road where all sorts of things happen. Yet, despite the repetition that comes from logging hours and miles, every day is wildly different because the pace and f low of time are nothing like what you are used to. Your senses are twisted on tour. Space is warped. It’s an unavoidable course of events. It’s all by chance and inevitable.