At the Kyoto City University Arts Gallery are artists Kosuke Okahara and Paolo Pellegrin. Pellegrin’s aerial photos of Antarctica have a textile quality, and the bleak white landscapes appear almost monochrome.

Paolo Pellegrin at the Kyoto City University Arts Gallery

Exploring the darker side to human vibe is Kosuke Okahara’s heart-wretching “Ibasyo ga nai there’s no place for me” that documents the lives of women who cut themselves. Okahara hopes that through their stories photographic expression can play a role in restoring self worth to these victims of social ills such as bullying, sexual abuse, and domestic violence.　

Weronika Gęsicka “What a wonderful world” at Shimadai Gallery

Shimadai Gallery is remodeled into a 1950/60’s American house with period-era furniture to display Weronika Gęsicka’s “What a wonderful world”. The seemingly happily-ever-after vibe is disrupted in her glossy photo montages by humorous yet unsettling social commentary: a gaping walkway separates a father whose children are rushing to him after work in “Untitled #52 from the Traces Series, 2015-2017”, and a perfect family photo has the wife and children trapped in the frames in “Untitled #32 from the Traces series, 2015-2017”. The adjunct gallery features Dada-like works, including a barbed wire jump rope and steel nail ladened hula hoop.

Teppei Kaneuji at Kyoto newspaper

Noise, motion, and ink combine in a massive multimedia installation, S.F. (Splash Factory) by Teppei Kaneuji, that repurposes the former printing press room of the Kyoto newspaper.

“About Her, about Me, and about Them. Cuba through the Art and Life of Three Photographers: Alberto Korda, René Peña, and Alejandro González” at Y Gion

In the Gion district, “About Her, about Me, and about Them. Cuba through the Art and Life of Three Photographers: Alberto Korda, René Peña, and Alejandro González” brings portraits of Cuban people to the four floors of Y Gion bar and gallery space located in the famed Geisha district of Kyoto.

This year’s Kyotographie vibe echoed through the ancient city of Kyoto to expand and question our understanding of cultural, sexual, and physical human conditions–often ones that polite society hides beneath the surface.

KYOTOGRAPHIE 2019
Date: April 13th – May 12th, 2019
Place: The Museum of Kyoto Annex, Kondaya Genbei, SHIMADAI GALLERY KYOTO, Kyoto Shimbun, Nijo-jo Castle, Horikawa Oike Gallery, Ryosokuin, ASPHODEL, Sfera, and y gion etc.
Organizer: KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival
https://www.kyotographie.jp