Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Throughout the series of sixty C-prints (five of which are included in the Kadist Art Foundation’s collection), Hatakeyama’s photographs depict scenes of torn landscapes and leveled homes, demolished villages and massive piles of detritus pummeled beyond recognition. The images serve as records of disaster, seemingly driven by an intense need to bear witness to collective trauma. Hatakeyama’s photographs, however, emerged from a painful and personal grief: the series focuses on the near-destruction of the artist’s hometown, an event which resulted in both his mother’s death and the deaths of many friends and neighbors. Rikuzentakata bears the ethical weight and responsibility of photojournalism even as its genesis comes out of a deeply felt loss and the ambiguity of survivor’s guilt. But for every desolate landscape on view in Rikuzentakata , Hatakeyama also offers glimpses of possible regeneration and hope: in 2013.10.20 Kesen-cho (2013), a forest of evergreen trees suggests the possibility for new growth amongst an overturned and muddied hillside, while a faint rainbow streaking across the sky in 2012.3.24 Kesen-cho (2013) offers a familiar but poetic gesture towards a better future. Hatakeyama suggests that what’s lost can never be fully recovered, but that with time, those wounds can slowly heal and life can begin again.
Naoya Hatakeyama is one of Japan’s leading contemporary photographers. His work frequently explores the relationship between natural and built environments, and he is particularly invested in examining how urbanization produces violent effects in surrounding landscapes. In 2012, Hatakeyama was the subject of a mid-career retrospective at SFMOMA titled Naoya Hatakeyama: Natural Stories, an exhibition of large-scale photographs centered around themes of nature, destruction, and human will. His photographs have been acquired by many international collections such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Osaka; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; the Swiss Foundation for Photography, Winterthur; la Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Weekly Southeast Asia Radar: Vietnam's new costume institute; Is Penang's art scene dead? | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Radar Jitti Chompee October 22, 2019 ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Radar features articles and posts about arts and culture in Southeast Asia, drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region...
How To Spend Christmas 2023 In London | Londonist Christmas In London 2023: A Guide To Festive Events, Food And Drink In The Capital This Winter By Londonist Londonist Christmas In London 2023: A Guide To Festive Events, Food And Drink In The Capital This Winter The 2023 Oxford Street Christmas lights...
New York’s Cheim & Read Gallery to Close After 26 Years – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Maximilíano Durón Plus Icon Maximilíano Durón Senior Editor, ARTnews View All November 22, 2023 2:53pm An installation shot of several paintings from "The Americans," a 2023 exhibition by Cumwizard69420 at Cheim & Read in New York...
For this image, Olaf Breuning invented a revised stone age corrected for the cinema in which dolmens and leather were replaced by surf boards and neoprene clothing...
Matthieu Laurette — Une rétrospective dérivée (1993-2023) — MAC VAL Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Matthieu Laurette — Une rétrospective dérivée (1993-2023) — MAC VAL Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Matthieu Laurette — Une rétrospective dérivée (1993-2023) Exhibition Mixed media Matthieu Laurette, Self-Portrait, 2014/2023...
‘Living in Brixton allowed me not to be judged non-stop’: Zineb Sedira, the artist who makes people feel at home | Art | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to navigation Zineb Sedira photographed in the Whitechapel gallery, where her Brixton living room has been recreated in wallpaper...
"Miss British": Embodying the Post-Colonial Complaint | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Photo courtesy of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay April 18, 2019 By Aparna Nambiar (1440 words, six-minute read) “How has colonialism affected you?” This question flashes upon the giant screens that span the studio walls of The Esplanade Theatre Studio...
“Until the Lions” by Akram Khan Company: What About the Lioness? | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Bernie Ng Photo: Bernie Ng, courtesy of Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay October 18, 2018 By Jocelyn Chng (1160 words, six-minute read) Until the Lions , a work that premiered in 2016 at the Roundhouse in London, is presented as one of the main (Centrestage) programmes at the 2018 Esplanade da:ns festival ...
Interview with Wang Chong for "Made In China 2.0" | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Mark Pritchard March 23, 2020 The following review is made possible through a Critical Residency programme supported by By Nabilah Said (1,000 words, 6-minute read) Experimental Chinese theatremaker Wang Chong presented a work-in-progress showing of his newest work, Made in China 2.0 , at Asia TOPA in February...
In Amapola Prada’s work Movement, we see three spotlit, female bodies lying inert in a darkened room, alongside three dressed, standing figures holding long, wooden spoons...
Indigenous educator and curator Sandra Benites, of the Guarani-Ñandeva people, narrates the origin myth of the bird Urutau in her native language...
The film called Temps Mort (Dead Time or Time Out) presents an exchange of short video footage assembled into one final edit...
AExGTF Chats: Prof Tan Sooi Beng of Ombak Potehi at George Town Festival | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles https://artsequator.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ombak-potehi_1.mp4 August 30, 2018 Potehi puppet theatre is a traditional Hokkien art form brought to Southeast Asia by immigrants from southern China several centuries ago...
The video animation Falling Head 2 , hand-painted by Diego Marcon in 2015, consists of a close-up of a head caught on the threshold between sleep and wakefulness or maybe from wakefulness to sleep...