The exhibition "Poetry" presents the photographs of Hiro Matsuoka for the first time in London at Waterstones Gower Street Gallery from 23rd April to 23rd May, 2019. The selection features more than 50 gelatin silver prints from his three publications and earlier work.

Born in Japan in 1968, Matsuoka studied literature with a special focus on theatre. He moved to Germany in the early 1990s, for several years working as a theatre photographer, where he developed his unique style.

The body parts of a mannequin in an advertisement, the fugitive faces of reception guests or anonymous passers-by in front of a large billboard, these are all snapshots taken in the street spontaneously. Yet the photographer's carefully composed images introduce us to a world with imaginary perspectives.

His photography does not attempt to document the world, but instead, by means of fragments snatched from daily life, reveals to us the invisible theatre that we inhabit. Matsuoka poetically unveils impalpable elements of a distorted reality.

This exhibition has been arranged in collaboration with Galerie Agathe Gaillard, Paris.

— Galerie Agathe Gaillard, April 2019