Masayoshi Sukita: “I felt like I could look into David Bowie’s soul.”

BarcelonaThe Konrads, The Riot Squad, psychedelic folk, glam rock, soul, funk, The Thin White Duke, Berlin, the pop years, Tin Machine, electronic music... The musical chronology of David Bowie (1947-2016), which spans almost six decades, shows a rare few. In June 1972, at the height of glam rock, Bowie pulled out of his sleeve a alter ego: Ziggy Stardust, the alien rocker who brought him eternal fame with the album Rice and Ziggy ruling Stardust and Spiders from Mars. That one look Bowie's flamboyant and androgynous style—one of the first to break gender barriers—captivated the public. So did a Japanese photographer who was passing through London, where he had gone to do a photo shoot with Marc Bolan, the singer of T-Rex. But Masayoshi Sukita (Nogata, 1938) couldn't get a poster he had seen on the street out of his head. "At the time, I didn't know who he was. So I asked the concierge at the hotel where I was staying who Bowie was. I was so impressed by that image that I knew I had to attend one of his concerts," explains Sukita, 87, via email from Japan. What he didn't know then was that the poster would change his life.

Sukita's interest in photography arose from curiosity. "When I was a teenager, just after World War II, American pop culture arrived in Japan and many young people were drawn to it. It was very important to me to capture everything that was happening, and I asked my mother for a camera. Although we couldn't afford one at the time, she did everything she could to grant my wish." It wasn't a passing fancy. Sukita graduated in photography, moved to Tokyo, and began working in the fashion and advertising industries. But her fascination with urban subcultures led her to London, the gateway to the Bowie universe. "Two weeks after seeing the poster, I was able to go to one of his concerts thanks to a friend, a Japanese stylist working for Kansai Yamamoto, who dressed Bowie at the time. I was able to show him my portfolio, he liked it, and we began a collaboration that lasted a long time," she says. No less than four decades, which debuted that same August with a portrait with an eloquent title: The first time I saw you [The First Time I Saw You] (1972), with Bowie oozing seventies psychedelia and a red electric guitar in his hands.

This relationship of art and friendship has been condensed into Bowie x Sukita, the exhibition on view at the new headquarters of the FotoNostrum gallery in Barcelona from this Friday, May 23rd, to September 15th, allows us to follow the British singer's chameleon-like personality through the privileged gaze of the Japanese photographer. Among the seventy images, there are iconic ones, such as one captured in 1973 in New York. Bowie appears with red-dyed hair, sporting a black vinyl frog with white stripes and hyperbolic leg warmers that were part of his Aladdin Sane tour wardrobe. A design by Yamamoto that demonstrates the care with which Bowie constructed his characters and narratives.

"When we did photoshoots, Bowie always chose the clothes he wore. I had no influence on that, but I know he liked Yamamoto's," she says. Not surprisingly, his compatriot's style—which oscillated between the modernity of science fiction and the classicism of kabuki theater—was in tune with the imaginary. glam Bowie's.

Beyond London and New York, Japan was also a meeting point for the two friends. In 1977 Iggy Pop went to Tokyo to promote The idiot, a studio album produced by Bowie, who accompanied him on that promotional trip. Sukita jumped at the chance and proposed a studio session—separately—in which she wore a leather jacket. Afterward, she selected the best photos and sent copies to each of them. The surprise came when Bowie told her he would use one of those images for the album cover. Heroes (1977). "For obvious reasons, Heroes and The first time I saw you These are two photos that I love, but one of my absolute favorites is Ki"I made it in 1989, during a particular period in Bowie's career. Before the session, I gave him a Ryuichi Sakamoto album, which had just been released in Japan but hadn't yet been released in the West. I know Bowie was very fond of his music, and during the session, he was listening to that new album. He looked so absorbed, and I felt like I could look into his soul," he says.

Bowie's fascination with Japanese culture began in 1966, when British actor and mime Lindsay Kemp—heavily influenced by the aesthetics and movements of kabuki theater—became his dance mentor. Bowie's records were also very well received in Japan, a country he visited several times. In 1980, he spent ten days in Kyoto to film an advertisement for a Japanese liquor. This stay led to two more sessions with Sukita: one in the studio, where Bowie transformed into a businessman, and another completely improvised one in which he became an anonymous citizen making phone calls from a payphone, visiting a shopping mall, taking the day off, and I loved the session. I loved the session. I loved the session. I loved the session. I loved the session. She took me for walks all over the city. In fact, she was my driver that day! "I really liked it because it was spontaneous and showed me how interested he was in our culture," recalls Sukita, who has always felt "happy and proud" to have had the opportunity to work with the British artist for half his life. What would Sukita's career have been like if that poster hadn't crossed her path? "I can't answer that question... I'm still looking for David Bowie now."