THE ETERNAL RETURN AS AN AFFIRMATION OF LIFE IN MASAHISA FUKASE'S PHOTOGRAPHY

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33871/sensorium.2025.12.10808

Keywords:

Masahisa Fukase, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fotografia japonesa, Eterno Retorno, Amor Fati

Abstract

This article examines the work of Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase (1934–2012) in relation to Friedrich Nietzsche’s concepts of Eternal Recurrence and Amor Fati. We explore how his photographic practice can be understood as an aesthetic response to the tragic nature of existence. Focusing on the series Kazoku (Family), in which the photographer returns to his family’s old studio to document the transformations wrought by time. We analyze the obsessive repetition of photographic gestures that attempt to arrest the transient while simultaneously exposing its impossibility. Fukase’s photography is interpreted not as an overcoming of pain, but as an act of life-affirmation. Ultimately, we argue that his insistence on photographing until physical collapse—culminating in his final blurred and ghostly images—constitutes a tragic pathos: the acceptance of the ephemeral as the only possible eternity.

Keywords: Masahisa Fukase; Friedrich Nietzsche; Japanese photography; Eternal Return. Amor Fati.

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Author Biography

LUZIA Renata YAMAZAKI, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina. Professora nos cursos de Graduação e Pós-Graduação em Artes Visuais da UDESC. Coordenadora do Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Formação de Educadores LIFE/UDESC. Projeto de pesquisa: Memórias e esquecimentos nos processos fotográficos contemporâneos. Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil.

References

CARBONARA, C. Masahisa Fukase, o Hitchcock japonês da fotografia. Spazio, Tempo School. Bari, 7 de junho de 2022. Disponível em < https://www.scuolaspaziotempo.it/orizzonti/107-masahisa-fukase/ >. Acesso em Acesso em 17 abri.2025.

FUKASE, Masahisa, Private Scenes, 2025. Disponível em < https://masahisafukase.com/private-scenes-1992/> Acesso em 11 maio. 2025.

MACHADO, R. Nietzsche e a verdade. Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, 1984.

NIETZSCHE. F. A Gaia Ciência. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2012.

NIETZSCHE. F. Assim falou Zaratustra: um livro para todos e para ninguém. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2018.

NIETZSCHE. F. O Nascimento da Tragédia, ou os gregos e o pessimismo. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.

KOSUGA, T; Suzuki. Y. Masahisa Fukase 1961–1991 Retrospective. Ed. bilíngue inglês/japonês. Tóquio: Editora Akaaka, 2023.

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Published

2025-08-15

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 01 (2025): Art&Sensorium

Section

Artigos

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