Hirakawa works in a variety of media including photography, performance and installation.
[1] Stating that "the sexual revolution is over and the Puritans won", Hirakawa's work challenges mainstream conceptions of sexuality, and the assumption that expressions of male heterosexual desire are oppressive and objectifying.
[3] In 2005, a site-specific performance entitled In Search of a Purple Heart, utilising fragments of interviews from Vietnam War veterans quoted by partially nude performers, was described as an "intense compilation of atmospheres" whose author was "intent on infecting the seductive surfaces that dominate our culture [...] with the rot of our culture’s collective guilt.
He was invited to present his work at the SMAK, Ghent in Belgium during the group-exhibition “Casino 2001” and the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt included the work “Dreams of Tokyo” in its permanent collection.
[1][2][5][6] Additional works by Hirakawa in permanent collections include: "Woman Children and Japanese" at The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Art Collection, Turin, Italy, "Garden of Nirvana" at MOCA Los Angeles,[7] and "Reconfirmation" at Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin.