The funeral of visionary Japanese-American photographer Yasuomi Hashimura took place in New York on Sunday. Hashimura was reportedly pushed to his death on a street in Manhattan by a homeless man at approximately 8:25 p.m. on October 22. He hit his head as he fell to the ground on the sidewalk. Taken to hospital in critical condition, Hashimura received treatment, but sadly passed away earlier this month. He was 79.
The suspect was arrested a day after the incident. He has subsequently been charged with manslaughter. The two men didn’t know each other.
About Yasuomi Hashimura
Born in 1945 in Ibaraki city, Osaka Prefecture, Hashimura grew up in a place that had been devastated by World War II. His father died when he was just 2 and his family had little money to get by. Aged 8, Hashi, as he became known, found a piece of paper in a box of Glico candy. He had won a camera. The first picture he took was of his brother and his friends. From that point on, he was completely hooked. Photography became his passion.
In 1968, Hashimura moved to Hawaii, where he worked as an assistant to a university professor and as a freelancer for United Press International. After three years in Honolulu, he headed to Los Angeles, before eventually settling in New York. He opened Hashi Studio there in 1974.
Hashimura worked for several major brands, such as Coca-Cola, Absolut and Panasonic, helping to elevate commercial imagery into an art form. A major player in the industry, he poured his soul into his art. One of his most famous photographs, titled “Rainbow in Space,” was chosen by the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) in 1985 as a limited-edition art print for the commemorative stamp honoring United Nations University.
“How we perceive photographs is unique to each one of us,” Hashimura once said. “As a photographer, it’s my challenge to help people see things in a way they haven’t seen them before, to take the time to think about the things they are constantly rushing by in their everyday lives.”
