Last weekend we went to the Tokyo Photography Museum in Ebisu to see an exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Photography. There were five exhibitors, two of whom I was really impressed with Ken Kitano and Sohei Nishino. Highly recommended if they have an exhibition that you can get to.
Ken Kitano mostly does portrait photography. The images appear as a single person but are actually compositions of many people. The first is of a soldier in Tiananmen Square, the second a girl with a candle on Hiroshima day.
Ken Kitano
quod.lib.umich.edu/t/tapic/x.../7977573.0002.103-00000019
http://www.japanexposures.com/2010/02/05/ken-kitano-gallery/
The second photographer, Sohei Nishi, had made photographic dioramas of a number of different cities - London, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, Istanbul. The intricate detail is captivating.
Tokyo
http://www.soheinishino.com/en/works/dioramamap/tokyo/index.html
3 comments:
Ken Kitano's work is haunting! I've just looked at the website you mentioned, and he's done some lovely landscapes too. Sigh. One day when I grow up, I will be able to take nice photos like this ...
He has been working on the "one face" project for a while, and I tend to think of him in that context, though you're quite right he doesn't just do people.
Very haunting. The individual is representative of such a collective experience, particularly with Tiananmen and Hiroshima. The soldier in particular seems haunted by ghosts.
AFAIK though he's not overtly political.
When are you coming back? I'm suffering from Ponkanchan withdrawal symptoms.
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