Born in 1938 in Osaka, Daido Moriyama grew up during a time of immense transformation in Japan. On the heels of the American occupation of the country following W.W. II, Japanese culture teetered between traditional values and more modern, Western ideas. In the midst of that political, economic, and artistic instability, Moriyama began taking photographs with a cheap Canon IV Sb, purchased from a friend. He rejected the typical conventions of photography, choosing instead to shoot grainy and vaguely surreal images of life in Japan’s city streets: raw images of car accidents and stray dogs, alleyways and prostitutes. The artist, now 85, is considered one of the pioneers of avant-garde street photography in Japan. —Paulina Prosnitz