The Polish photographer and filmmaker Tomasz Gudzowaty is actually known for his perfection—clear compositions, precisely chosen image frames, carefully considered down to the last detail. However, the approach to his Sumo series is completely different. For his photographic tribute to the Japanese national sport Sumo, Gudzowaty confronts his subject with the rebellious aesthetic of “are-bure-bokeh”, which means rough, blurred, out of focus. This style developed in Japan in the 1960s as a countercurrent to the prevailing norm of photojournalism of the time. With the help of photography, Gudzowaty attempts to create a visual language that is able to capture documents beyond words. With the publication Sumo he presents a previously unknown side of his artistic work.

TOMASZ GUDZOWATY (*1971) is a portrait and documentary photographer and filmmaker. His work has been published in many magazines and newspapers, such as National Geographic and Vogue Italia. He has received numerous awards.