sion eventually led to hospitalization, and the
family decided to move to East Berlin. Go ̈ssler, ill
and less frequently photographed, nevertheless re-
mained Furuya’s consistent and beloved subject. In
1985, Go ̈ssler committed suicide by jumping to her
death. Furuya photographed the traces of the tra-
gedy: her neatly placed shoes left behind, her body
lying on the ground, the police approaching the
scene. These were his final images of Go ̈ssler, and
even then the camera proved its power as a connect-
ing force between the couple.
Furuya did not exhibit photographs of his wife
until 1989, four years after her death. That year,
Furuya developed the first of twoMe ́moiresexhibi-
tions, which consisted predominantly of images of
Go ̈ssler, and centered around the themes of life and
death. Revisiting a life through the memorial of the
photograph was something that Furuya chose to
do both privately and publicly, just as he had done
in his earlier years while documenting Go ̈ssler. It
was in preparation for exhibiting loss that Furuya
publicly presented Go ̈ssler’s images to the world. In
the book accompanying this 1989 exhibition, Fur-
uya did not arrange Go ̈ssler’s images in a chrono-
logical replay of their life together. Instead, he
pursued the ways in which his memories were shift-
ing, altering, and reconciling a loss of love and life
with an attempt to organize the photographs of a
living memory.
In 1995, Furuya developed a secondMe ́moires
series, again visiting the past and the need to resi-
tuate his photographic memories. For the 1995 ser-
ies, Furuya included photographs of both Go ̈ssler
and their son. This reinterpretation of his work led
to critical success and a second accompanying pub-
lication. By rearranging his memories again in 1995,
Furuya enacted both the role of photographer/
author, the one who is in control of the arrange-
ment, and also the viewer/spectator, who begins
looking and remembering differently during this
later phase of life and work. An exercise in dealing
with death through visual representations and
photographic communication, Furuya’s work ad-
heres to the varying roles of engaging with an ima-
ge. Themes of loss and emptiness are also evident in
the photographs without Go ̈ssler: the moment Fur-
uya isolates an urban street scene or rural land-
scape, the image is often cut or bound by some
event or person out of range.
The Model Wifeexhibition in 2000 placed Fur-
uya’s work alongside several prominent photogra-
phers, including Baron Adolph de Meyer, Alfred
Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Harry Callahan, Emmet
Gowin, Lee Friedlander, Masahisa Fukasse, and
Nicholas Nixon. The exhibition focused on the
enduring complex relationship between husband
and wife when the two are photographer and sub-
ject. In 2004, Furuya’saliveexhibition in Vienna
marked a transitional moment in the artist’s pro-
cess of remembering with a collection of works
from 1970 to 2002. These photographs remain
untitled, but each offers a date and location, ar-
ranged according to Furuya’s evolving memories.
HeatherBlahaBiography
Born in Izu, Japan, 1950. Studied architecture in Numazu,
1966–1969. Studied photography at the Tokyo Polytech-
nic University, 1970–1972; co-founded photo magazine
Camera Austria, 1980; publishedAMSbyCamera Aus-
tria, 1980–1981; co-founded the Austrian Photo Archive,
1983; co-curated and co-edited exhibitions and catalo-
gues for:Daido Moriyama, Graz, 1980,Shomei Tomatsu:
Japan 1952–1981, Graz, 1984,Araki. Akt Tokyo. 1971–
1991 , Graz, 1984, andKeep in Touch. Positions In Japa-
nese Photography, Graz, 2003. Received the Camera
Austria Award for Contemporary Photography, Graz,
1993; Rupertinum Photography Award, Salzburg, 2000;
Ina Nobuo Prize, Tokyo, 2002. Lives with his son,
Komyo Klaus in Graz, 1987–present.Individual Exhibitions
1975 199 Fotos;Fotogalerie im Schillerhof, Graz, Austria
1975 Seiichi Furuya; Fotogalerie Focus, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1978 Seiichi Furuya; Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck,
Austria
1980 Portraits von Christine; Forum Stadtpark, Graz Austria
1981 AMS; Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria
1982 AMS; Nagase Photo Salon, Tokyo, Japan AMS;
Canon Photo Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1983 Mythos und Ritual; steirischer herbst ’83, Kulturhaus
Graz, Graz, Austria
1989 Me ́moires; Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joan-
neum, Graz, Austria
1990 Me ́moires; Museum moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria
1991 Staatsgrenze; The Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech
Republic
Me ́moires; Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Me ́moires;exposure, Tokyo, Japan
1994 Zu Hause in Berlin-Ost; Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Aus-
tria
Vertreiben–Flu ̈chten; Zeit-Foto Salon, Tokyo, Japan
Border/Borderless; Galerie Fotohof, Salzburg, Austria
1995 Me ́moires; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur,
Switzerland
1997 Christine Furuya-Go ̈ssler 1978–1985; Past Rays Gal-
lery, Yokohama, Japan and traveling throughout Japan
1998 Me ́moires; Museum fu ̈r Photographie, Braunschweig,
Germany
Christine Furuya-Go ̈ssler 1978–1985;Nikon Salon,
Osaka, Japan
2000 Portrait; Rencontres Internationales de la photogra-
phie, Arles, France
Berlin-Ost 1985–1987; La Camera, Tokyo, Japan
2001 Portrait; Scalo Gallery, Zurich, SwitzerlandFURUYA, SEIICHI