Stephen Shames, Power to the People, FUJII DAIMARU BLACK STORAGE　Photo: ©︎ Takeshi Asano – KYOTOGRAPHIE 2018

Documenting historical events, Stephen Shames’ “Power to the People” archives the activities of the Black Panthers in their pursuit of justice, freedom, and dignity, and Claude Dityvon’s work, “May 1968: Reality dreamed,” focuses on the riots, strikes, and sit-ins that occurred 40 years ago this May in Kyoto’s sister city, Paris. Gideon Mendel’s photographs of flood victims in “Drowning World”, hung in a dilapidated former ice house, explore the impact of climate change. Romuald Hazoumè’s masked petrol canisters reference sacred Yoruba dances, the slave trade, and issues with colonial rule that are not only problems of the past.

Izumi Miyazaki, UP to ME, ASPHODEL　Photo: ©︎ Takeshi Asano – KYOTOGRAPHIE 2018

Izumi Miyazaki’s self-portraits juxtapose landscapes and familiar objects for unique imagery, and her 3rd-floor, Instagram-ready interactive illusionary space “UP to ME” is featured at ASPHODEL Gallery. Liu Bolin meticulously conceals himself and on-site staff in his photographs of Runiart’s champagne cellars and vineyards to create optical illusions, while Yukio Nakagawa’s “Flowers at Their Fate” explores the life and death of flowers through his avant-garde Ikebana arrangements at Kenninji Temple, the oldest Zen Temple in Kyoto.

Jean-Paul Goude, So Far So Goude, The Museum of Kyoto Annex　Photo: ©︎ Takeshi Asano – KYOTOGRAPHIE 2018

The Museum of Kyoto Annex provides the stage for French opera singers who appear to float through award-winning photographer Jean-Paul Goude’s illusory works and iconic advertisements in “So Far So Goude.” Following walls designed to look like Japanese paper screens in a 10th generation obi (kimono sash) wholesaler’s traditional house, Masahisa Fukase’s retrospective “PLAY” highlights his career as one of the most innovative and original artists of the postwar period.

Liu Bolin, Liu Bolin × Ruinart, y gion　Photo: ©︎ Takeshi Asano – KYOTOGRAPHIE 2018

Once again, KYOTOGRAPHIE organizers have invited photographers to exhibit their works in unique venues that make visitors take note of their surroundings. Attentive to financial, environmental, racial, and social issues, KYOTOGRAPHIE’s 2018 theme, UP, seems custom-made for this year’s world, one in which personal and global issues have been recognized as critically coextensive. These works speak to us through awareness and urge us to make better choices through action and creativity.

KYOTOGRAPHIE 2018
Date: April 14th – May 13th, 2018
Place: The Museum of Kyoto Annex, Ryosokuin in Kenninji Temple, Kondaya Genbei Kurogura and Chikuin-no-Ma, Sazanga-Kyu (Former Icehouse), Kyoto City Central Wholesale Marcket, Kyoto Shimbun B1 Former printing Plant, and y gion etc.
Organizer: KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival
Co-organizers: Kyoto City, Kyoto Municipal Board of Education
https://www.kyotographie.jp