Photo Exhibition “Tohoku through the Eyes of Japanese Photographers”

Opening: Fri 30 Oct 2015, 9.30 am
Exhibition: 30 Oct – 13 Nov 2015, 8.30 am – 4.45 pm
Vietnam Fine Arts Museum

From Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam:

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, in cooperation with Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, proudly present a travelling photo exhibition “Tohoku through the eyes of Japanese photographers” from 30 October – 13 November December at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi.

The great earthquake that assaulted Japan on March 11, 2011 devastated the Tohoku region. Everyone has vivid memories of the riveting photo and video images that were quickly broadcast around the world by the mass media, and we also remember how they were quickly answered by waves of sympathy and support for the recovery effort. This exhibition of photographs of Tohoku does not attempt to document the damage or recovery but instead uses photography to show the natural and cultural environment of Tohoku along with its people and their way of life.

This exhibition is composed of photographs of the Tohoku taken by nine individual photographers and one photographers’ group. Teisuke Chiba and Ichiro Kojima photographed Tohoku in the 1950s and 1960s. Hideo Haga, Masatoshi Naito, and Masaru Tatsuki have recorded festivals and folk religious rites throughout the region. Hiroshi Oshima and Naoya Hatakeyama have combined their personal histories with the landscapes of their home regions. Meiki Rin turned his camera toward the beautiful natural environment. Nao Tsuda searched for the source of the Japanese spirit in relics and artifacts of the Jomon period. A group of photographers led by Toru Ito have created the Sendai Collection, a series of photographs of anonymous scenesin Sendai, Miyagi prefecture.

Jomon culture is the deepest stratum of traditional Japanese culture, which gradually seems to be fading away, but the legacy of Jomon still lives and breathes in Tohoku. This exhibition gives glimpses of the primal landscape of Japan, and we hope that it will provide an opportunity for viewers to consider the nature of the Japanese people and think about the future of Tohoku.

These photographs represent the varied faces of Tohoku, and we hope that this relatively unknown region will be rendered more familiar by the brilliant artistic expression of these marvelous Japanese photographers.

Free of admission.

Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam 27 Quang Trung Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội Tel: 3944 7419 www.jpf.org.vn