Beyond the commonplace – Views from Japan
in Gaspé
EXPOSITION
Beyond the commonplace – Views from Japan
Exhibition presented at two locations in the town of Gaspé:
Musée de la Gaspésie | 80 Boulevard de Gaspé
July 5th to September 30th 2024
Schedule and admission: museedelagaspesie.ca
Chieko Shiraishi, Tokyo, Japan | https://www.instagram.com/chieko.shiraishi/
Shin Noguchi, Kamakura and Tokyo, Japan | shinnoguchiphotography.com
Aki Goto, New York, New York and Tokyo, Japan| instagram.com/a3igo1o
Yoshinori Mizutani, Tokyo, Japan | yoshinori-mizutani.com
Mikiko Hara, Tokyo, Japan
Exhibit curator: Kinuko Asano, artistic director of Galerie Echo 119
“Esthetics establishes a relationship of indistinguishability between the world of art and the world of life. The artistic gesture changes the perception, not the nature, of the ordinary. Thus, the esthetic experience permits a relationship of continuity between art and life.”
– Barbara Formis, Esthétique de la vie ordinaire (Esthetics of Ordinary Life)
How do we display Japanese culture in a region where it is poorly represented without falling into the trap of exotic clichés? Perhaps by going back to the sources of photography, to that magic of the medium that allows us to “see” through the eyes of someone else?
Photography broadens our field of vision, transcending barriers of space and time; it opens a window onto other worlds, other realities. In making accessible what may be commonplace for some, it allows others the adventure of a journey home. Its distances are reduced to those of the spectators and the image facing them. As Raymond Depardon put it, “There’s nothing more universal than a photographer; he’s someone who makes photos for everybody.”*
Through the shared views of Japanese artists (male and female), a bridge is built between the Gaspé Peninsula and Japan around the theme of the commonplace. Going beyond a simple exploration of day-to-day life, their works offer unique perspectives on apparently ordinary things.
Bringing to light what lies behind the commonplace, illuminating the ordinary, but also bringing together in dialogue, perhaps, by way of the common language of emotion and wonder, the Gaspé and Japan. There you have the common thread of this exhibition, which offers a re-enchantment within the reach of all.
*over the airwaves of France Culture on May 10, 2024.
Exposition aux Rencontres
Beyond the commonplace – Views from Japan
For the artists presented, the commonplace is a raw material that is revealed and that metamorphoses through the lens, which captures the moments of brilliance, beauty and emotion that punctuate our daily lives. These extraordinary moments nestled at the heart of the ordinary transform the perception of the world that surrounds us and let the imaginary in.
Thus, birds that could not be more common, perched on power lines every bit as familiar, are transformed under the lens of Yoshinori Mizutani into exotic creatures populating the urban jungle.
Adopting a different perspective, Chieko Shiraishi, who is also presenting pictures taken during a residency in the Gaspé, endeavors to translate the emotion of memories. She explores the idea that the familiar along with personal memory could be the key to apprehending the unknown.
For his part, Shin Noguchi rediscovers a look imprinted with the innocence specific to childhood, where each “visual accident” becomes the pretext for imagining a fantastic adventure.
Mikiko Hara finds small details and short moments an opportunity to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. She captures the beauty of gestures and moments, snatching fragments of the sublime from banal scenes.
Lastly, Aki Goto also draws inspiration from the world of childhood to create videos for which she composes the sound herself. Her works tell the story of emotional roller coasters specific to that time of life, those moments all the more precious for their fleetingness.