In a completely different environment, on the third floor of Flying Tiger, the Danish novelty goods store, “Manifold” by Ngadi Smart, created exhibition space layers in an inward spiral to represent the multilayered identity of Black women – including cross-dressing as part of the N’zuma people of Southeast Cote d’Ivoire and Southwestern Ghana’s Abissa festival; a drag queen community of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; and “Metamorphosis” a series of photo collage self-portraits about self-identity and intimacy, loss and grief; and “Me, First” exploring sexuality and self-pleasure.

Ngadi Smart, Manifold at Flying Tiger Copenhagen Kyoto Kawaramachi Store 3F. Photo: Takeshi Asano

“Beneath the Scars” by Yingfei Liang was awarded the KG + Select 2020 Award Winner. The exhibit consisted of photos taken from 2018 to 2020 that represented patches of memories of sexual assault and a series of photos related to memories. The artist asked you to take home part of these experiences, make them part of you, and store them properly.

Yingfei Liang, Beneath the Scars at Sfera. Photo: Takeshi Asano

This year’s Echo exhibition brought to the surface gut-wrenching moments of loss: from grief-stricken areas devastated by the 2011 Tsunami, the subsequent Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, COVID-19 hospital patients, chronicling the ongoing loss of native plants, innocence, and self-acceptance. It said that grief doesn’t grow smaller by the years, but we grow larger to be able to accept it. We grow around these experiences that shaped us collectively over the past decade and in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic to widen our perspective and understanding.

KYOTOGRAPHIE 2021
Date: September 18th – October 11th, 2021
Place: The Museum of Kyoto Annex, Hosoo Gallery, Nijo-jo Castle, Kennin-ji etc.
Organizer: KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival
https://www.kyotographie.jp