Dog Days, Bogotá (2007) found in Room 3 is one of Soth’s most personal autobiographical works. He spent around two months in Bogotá, Colombia, exploring the cityscape and townsfolk. The series title is adopted from the Canis Major (Great Dog) constellation, which describes the hot, summer days at that time. Other photo series included in this section are Broken Manual (2010), featuring people alienated from American society; and Songbook (2015), covering community interaction and social events gathering various genders, ages and races. The essence in Songbook was to work in black and white to evoke old press photography.

Alec Soth, Untitled 07 from the series Dog Days, Bogotá, 2003, Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum © Alec Soth

Soth also got involved in fashion photography. Paris/Minnesota (2007) was created for Magnum Photos Fashion Magazine. In Room 4, we see stolen poses in luxury brand shops, fashion shows, and hotel rooms. The room also reveals Soth’s stay at Park Hyatt Tokyo, Shinjuku in 2015 for New York Times Magazine. The photographer invited guests, like a tea ceremony master, insect researcher, and a female pop idol group in his room to pose. The artistic image Sari, Tokyo (2015) demonstrates the DJ, dancer and singer in exotic kimono and lavish makeup, epitomizing Japan’s energetic youth culture. Soth’s Park Hyatt Hotel, Tokyo (self-portrait) (2015) is utterly mesmerizing. He lays in bed, reflected in the window, and seems to float above the Tokyo night skyline, similar to a sketch from the movie, Lost in Translation. He stated, “I love the movie Lost in Translation, so I decided I would stay in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where the film was made, and not leave for five nights. Instead, I would bring the city to me, finding people online…”

Alec Soth, Anna, Kentfield, California from the series I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating, 2017, Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum © Alec Soth

Deviating from his usual road-trip approach, Soth personally visited people around the world, shooting them in their most private moments for I Know how Furiously Your Heart is Beating series (2019). Displayed in Room 5, his aim was to immerse himself in the comfort of his subjects. He explained, “Rather than trying to make some sort of epic narrative about America, I wanted to simply spend time looking at other people and, hopefully, briefly glimpse their interior life. In order to try and access these lives, I made all of the photographs in interior spaces.” Anna, Kentfield, California (2017) is one of Soth’s most vividly photographed works. He turned his lens inward, and placed choreographer Anna Halprin at the center of attention amid crawling vines on the rear wall, which blend subtly with the nature view outside the window.

Alec Soth, Still LifeⅡ from the series Advice for Young Artists, 2024, Collection of the artist © Alec Soth

Finally, in Room 6, we arrive at A Pound of Pictures series (2022), and his latest, Advice for Young Artists (2024). The latter collection depicts scenes of students and objects around them in American art schools. Still Life II (2024) exemplifies the rhythmic composition of props and equipment that traverses stages in a student’s life.

Soth’s pictures are lyrical, more than documentary, and feed our raw imagination as to the emotions and tales mirrored by each subject matter.

Alec Soth: A Room of Rooms
Date: October 10th, 2024 – January 19th, 2025
Opening Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Thursday and Friday until 20:00) *Open until 18:00 on January 2nd and 3rd, 2025.
Closed on Mondays (except when Monday falls on a holiday, in which case the museum is open and closed the following day), New Year’s holidays (December 29th – January 1st)
Place: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Address: Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
https://topmuseum.jp