In anticipation of the 1989 World Design Exposition in Nagoya, photographer Toshio Shibata was invited by the pioneering gallerist Etsuro Ishihara, founder of the Zeit-Foto Salon, to participate in a series of international photo excursions. The photographs in this book are the direct outcome of that commission, all captured in 1987 during Shibata’s second visit to Turkey’s Cappadocia region and on a trip along Egypt’s Aswan Western Agricultural Road, which, following a canal on the left bank of the Nile, covers more than 400 miles between Cairo and Luxor. 

Made half a decade before his first publications and featuring a rare exploration of portraiture, the body of photographs presented in 1987 offers a unique and striking window into Shibata’s early work. As Shibata found himself confronted with unfamiliar countries and landscapes, we can already distinguish some of the elements that would come to define his signature style – a keen eye for interweaving the natural and man-made elements with a masterful use of light.

This release of this publication coincides with Shibata’s upcoming exhibition “Early Works” at Zeit-Foto Kunitachi, Tokyo.

1987 by Toshio Shibata
40 Pages
Softcover with inserted photograph
B&W duotone offset
7” x 9”
Published by Deadbeat Club Press

Also available as a Special Edition
1987 Special Edition includes:
Signed & numbered zine.
7″ x 8.5″ archival pigment print from the book, also signed & numbered.
All of this comes in a brown envelope printed & numbered.
Very limited edition of only 30.