"UMBILICUS" (the Tokyo belly-button project)
by artist, Ithaka Darin Pappas
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"UMBILICUS" by Ithaka Darin Pappas (Japanese belly-button project - 1992)
@photographer_ithaka.d.pappas
*To schedule this exhibit at a museum or gallery - or for merchandising inquiries,
please contact ithaka.official@gmail.com
Although originally conceived in 1988, it wasn’t until the summer of 1992, while briefly living in Japan, that Ithaka Darin Pappas began and completed his photographic project UMBILICUS, a collection of one-hundred and twenty-seven black and white navel portraits.
During a period of two months, Ithaka combed the streets of Tokyo is search of willing belly-button subjects.
However, photographing in the light of day, sometimes in the middle of public squares and parks filled with thousands of people, did not prove to be an easy task.
Japanese people were quite shy when asked to show their navels in public to a stranger, further complicated by the fact that the photographer was a Gaijin (foreigner). 
For this reason some sessions were held in the subjects’ homes or offices after first meeting them in public.
Regardless, because of the high rejection rate
(10-20 refusals for every one acceptance), sometimes it would take an entire day just to complete the belly-button portrait of only one or two subjects.
In addition to the Japanese majority of navels photographed, a percentage of outsiders were also included.
These individuals were from Brazil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
Subject ages ranged from three to ninety-six.
In addition to the Japanese majority of navels, a percentage of outsiders were also included. People from Brasil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and the United States.
Says Ithaka,
“I didn’t photograph tourists for the project, but only actual residents of Tokyo.The foreigners who participated, mostly in their 20s-40s, were all living full-time in Tokyo and held a diverse spectrum of jobs from dishwasher to scientist.
Among the Japanese subjects - I photographed the navels of children as young as three (as well as those of their parents) and elderly people too, one in his late 90's.
The end result of UMBILICUS wasn’t only a study of human anatomy, but in actuality, concluded in becoming an anthropological observation of Tokyo’s population in 1992."
UMBILICUS was published for the first time in January 1993 in the Japanese edition of the world-renowned fine art photography quarterly called Déja-Vu (Issue #11), the same issue that photographic legends Inose Kou, Frederick Sommer and Nobuyoshi Araki appeared.
Other international magazine appearances of UMBILICUS soon followed.
In 1995, the rock group Flood (signed to the Portuguese label, União Lisboa) chose images from UMBILICUS to appear on the front and back cover of their debut album, Despertar.
In 1996, the San Francisco culture magazine Speak featured Ithaka’s UMBILICUS as their cover-story. The cover itself (designed by world-famous graphic artist Martin Venesky) was considered controversial, causing the magazine to be returned by many of their distributors. It was the worst-selling issue in the magazine’s history.
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Photo: Ithaka Darin Pappas © 2018
Note: These images are not Public Domain, it is Necessary to acquire authorization
thru my myself ithaka.official@gmail.com or my representatives at the Tack Artist Agency Group in Los Angeles before reproducing in print, online or merchandising ... thank you.
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12579280/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1
Inspiring photographers: Shihachi Fujimoto, Bruce Gilden Hisae Imai, Takeji Iwamiya, Akira Komoto, Motoichi Kumagai, Seiji Kurata, Michiko Matsumoto, Aizō Morikawa, Eiichi Moriwaki, Tadayuki Naitoh, Kiyoshi Nishiyama, Yoshino Ōishi, Kōji Satō, Tokihiro Satō, Bukō Shimizu, Mieko Shiomi, Teikō Shiotani, Raghubir Singh, Yutaka Takanashi, Toyoko Tokiwa, Haruo Tomiyama, Kansuke Yamamoto
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12579280/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1
Inspiring photographers: Shihachi Fujimoto, Bruce Gilden Hisae Imai, Takeji Iwamiya, Akira Komoto, Motoichi Kumagai, Seiji Kurata, Michiko Matsumoto, Aizō Morikawa, Eiichi Moriwaki, Tadayuki Naitoh, Kiyoshi Nishiyama, Yoshino Ōishi, Kōji Satō, Tokihiro Satō, Bukō Shimizu, Mieko Shiomi, Teikō Shiotani, Raghubir Singh, Yutaka Takanashi, Toyoko Tokiwa, Haruo Tomiyama, Kansuke Yamamoto
