The three world odyssey - Japan

Back Across the River 

After a fun hour in the Dulwich museum (and as usual being tempted by some photography books, I am sure I will read one day. [I ended up buying the minimalist photographer by Antony Zacharias]) , it was still only 12 O'clock. So the question was, what now? 

Fortunately, I already had a plan B (and a plan C) 

So it was back over the river, to an part of London that made Dulwich look like an inner-city slum.

 South Kensington.  

I was here to visit Japan House who were running their first photographic exhibition showing pictures by Kawada Kikuji (川田 喜久治) and Iwane Ai (岩根愛). 

Even before I visited Japan, I had taken a great interest in all Japanese culture, and I was especially in the  photography. 

A couple of years ago I had visited a Daido Moriyama (森山 大道) exhibition in the London photographic gallery and was surprised on the rawness and darkness of the images.  On the train down, I read a short book by him called “How I take Photographs” and was inspired to try some of his ideas (It was another book buying opportunity I could not pass. I also snagged "400 images by Ansel Adams" at tghe same time. Do not tell my wife.).  

Practicing my inner Daido

Japan has a long history with photography and there is a reason why Japan is still the premier world camera manufacturer. They probably embraced photography as an art form before the west and with a different artistic foundation, it mean that Japanese photographs tend to have a different look, being brighter and rawer. 

Kawada and Iwane represent two different paths on that journey. Kawada started photographing in the 1940's, while Iwane started in the 1990's, so they also represent two different eras.  

I had assumed I had already been to Japan House before, however in fact I had been to the Japan center which is a great place for Japanese snacks. Japan House in Kensington is a totally different scene. Basically, it is a display case for luxury (and therefore overpriced) Japanese goods on Kensington High street, one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world.

The exhibition was not in the shop, but contained in the basement. However unlike the Dulwich gallery exhibition, entry was free with citizens of Kensington feeling they were rich enough already. 

The silk road

I have to say I was sort of blown away by the photos. 

It's hard not to see connections between Daido Moriyama and Kawada. Both embrace dark shadows and abstract composition and it was not a surprise to learn that Daido in his early days had some contact. 

Kawada can  be seen as the father of modern Japanese photography, founding the Vivo photographic collective in the 1950s, which although short lived was influential both in Japan and worldwide

Despite some photos being almost 70 years old, there was a modernity feeling to them, with a feeling that Japanese photography has gone through a journey, taht we in the west are only just following. 

It was also interesting contrasting with the American photographs from the Dulwich gallery exhibition, some of which are cotemporary with Kawada's images. Both sets of images are in some ways similar, with both eschewing pictorial styles for a more abstract imaging and applying harsh lighting to frame their subjects.  However, Kawada's images were rawer and, in many cases, far more abstract. It felt that in Japan, photography in the 1950s as a pure art form could be embraced, while in the US, conservative forces restricted true expression.  

One of the most impressive sets of images was the "The map". A set of images of patterns on walls and roofs, that at 1st glance would just look like random patterns, until you realise they are taken at the Genbaku Dome, that eponymous building at the epicenter of the Hiroshima atomic bomb drop. Once you know that, it is hard not to see the patterns as souls etched into the concrete by the atomic blast. 

Iwane Ai had a different vibe, but in some ways connected. In some ways she embraced two cultures. Born in Tokyo, but studying in California, her studies look at immigrant Japanese culture in Hawaii and Fukushima.  

Unlike Kawada's single images, Iwana images stretched as huge banners across the room as large transparencies and huge B&W panoramas. Some of the most impressive images were the meters long panorama's covering he devastation from the Fukushima tsunami and Japanese graveyards consumed by a Hawaii lava field. 

Other images, taken during Covid times, were large colour frames of traditional Japanese characters, but using ICM to add  streaks of light.

My only criticsm was there aws no opportunity to buy books or other media about the artists. Which for the sake of my bankl balance was probably a good thing.

Plan C

After a wonder around the Japan center and looking at the extrtemely expensive objects, I realised I still had almost 2 hours till my train. So it was time to get my camera out and enact plan C, which meant a short jaunt around the Circle line to my next destination...

How Much...

A wicker bag for the price of a good lens