First edition of Morphine Doesn't Work In May by Nobuyoshi Araki. First impression. Medium format hardback in near fine condition. Some minor shelf wear to the boards and band but otherwise, all pages and spine are clean and intact. Text in Japanese. About Morphine Doesn't Work in May is a photobook by Nobuyoshi Araki, one of Japan's world-renowned photographers. This book is made up of photos taken in May 2004. Many of Araki's photobooks are photo diary-style compilations of a year, but this book also uses photos laid out in chronological order, with all photos in vertical orientation. "Vertical orientation is interesting. When you combine them, the meaning changes, doesn't it? That's what's interesting," Araki says in the "Photo Explanation" appendix to this book, and the clever combination of two photos side by side on a double-page spread is also the essence of this book. It begins with a photo of his beloved cat Ciro on his balcony at home, followed by a number of personal snapshots, and ends with Ciro on the balcony, which is typical of Araki, but the shift in perspective along with Araki's actions, from Tokyo to Kobuchizawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, to work sites and coworkers, bars and clubs, and on the move (in Araki's words, a car ride), is well-paced with vertical photos. The elaborately designed box is by Suzuki Hijiri. The title was written by Minori Miyata, a poet who lost a breast to breast cancer and was the model for Araki's photo book "Empty Words," published the year after this book was released.
