The volume is dedicated to the project of the artist Linda Fregni Nagler concerning a series of Japanese photographs of the Yokohama school (Yokohama Shashin), which have as their subject flower sellers (hanauri), a highly appreciated category of street vendors in Japan during the Edo and Meiji periods.

The photographs, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century and collected over a period of twenty years by Linda Fregni Nagler, are accompanied by some works by the artist herself who rephotographed the original albumens, printing them in the darkroom and colouring them by hand with a technique similar to that of the period (1860-1910). This intervention gives new meaning to the images, illustrating the history of a specific way of looking at exoticism and otherness. The floral and vegetal theme finds further declination in the precious kesa fabrics of the MAO collection, in the Kimonos, in the lacquers and in the woodcuts presented in these pages.

Contents

Beyond the Image: A Conversation with Linda Fregni Nagler
Anna Musini and Francesca Filisetti

A Question of Gazes.
Things that Death Cannot Destroy by Linda Fregni Nagler
Cristina Baldacci

Living to the Rhythm of Nature. Flowers in the Daily Life of Traditional Japan
Manuela Moscatiello

Hanauri, Ukiyo-e and Yokohama Shashin between Reciprocal Influences
Roberta Vergagni

Mortimer in Search of an Author
Linda Fregni Nagler

List of Captions

Suggested Readings

Authors’ Biographies

Edited by Anna Musini, Francesca Filisetti
Accompanying catalogue to the Hanauri exhibition at the MAO Museum of Oriental Art, Italy from 4 December 2024 - 4 May 2025