Contemporary Art Photography and Traditional Kyoto Crafts at Karakuan

In what Paris-based artist Kimiko Yoshida describes as a ‘ceremony of disappearance,’ the artist herself becomes a decorative pictorial element in a series of photographs that would otherwise appear to have little variation: taken the same size, with the same layout, same subject matter, same lighting, and no digital editing, the resulting series of self-portraits, which defy conventional genres, has been critically acclaimed in Europe. This will be the artist’s first full-scale solo exhibition in Japan.

The show will also feature a display of special works created in collaboration with Kyoto traditional artisans with the support of GUCCI, a company that is itself actively engaged in collaborative projects involving traditional crafts. Among these creations are pieces by Naohachi Usami, a ninth-generation paper artisan who makes traditional Japanese scrolls and standing screens. His contribution is hanging scrolls made with traditional dyed silk from the kimono workshop of the Noguchi family, whose house, Karakuan, also provides the venue for this exhibition. Karakuan is the dismantled and relocated former residence of Enshu Kobori (died 1647), an artist and government official of the early Edo Period who was also a tea master and garden designer. Enshu spent his later years here. The exhibition presents an opportunity for visitors to view parts of this building, designated a Cultural Property by the city of Kyoto, and its garden, not normally open to the public.