NATIONAL GALLERY
Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
EMBASSY OF JAPAN
present
TOHOKU
TROUGH THE EYES OF THE JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS
8 May – 16 June 2019
Opening: 8 May, Wednesday, 6:30 pm
SAMCA, 2, Cherni Vryh Blvd.
Tohoku is the northeastern section of Honshu, the largest island in the Japanese Archipelago. On it's territory develops on of the oldest Japanese cultures Jamon, known for the flame-like forms of its pottery (15,000 and 3000 years ago).
On March 11, 2011 an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 struck Japan, and the worst damage was concentrated in the Tohoku region, where the impact was devastating and caused the unprecedented nuclear accident at No. 1 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The media coverage of the destruction made many people familiar with the names of Tohoku cities and prefectures, but few are likely to have a broad knowledge of other aspects of the region - its climate, natural and cultural environment, history, way of life, or people.
The exhibition is composed of photographs of the Tohoku taken by nine individual photographers and one photographers’ group. Teisuke Chiba and Ichiro Kojima photographed Tohoku in the 1950s and 1960s. Hideo Haga, Masatoshi Naito, and Masaru Tatsuki have recorded festivals and folk religious rites throughout the region. Hiroshi Oshima and Naoya Hatakeyama have combined their personal histories with the landscapes of their home regions. Meiki Rin turned his camera toward the beautiful natural environment. Nao Tsuda searched for the source of the Japanese spirit in relics and artifacts of the Jomon period. A group of photographers led by Toru Ito have created the Sendai Collection, a series of photographs of anonymous scenesin Sendai, Miyagi prefecture.
The event is held under the motto of the triple jubilee in the Japanese-Bulgarian bilateral relations in 2019 (110th anniversary of the beginning of bilateral contacts, the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 60th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries). The exhibition is organized by the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Bulgaria and the Sofia Arsenal - Museum of Contemporary Art, with the support of the Japanese Foundation.
For more information:
Boryana Valchanova
0879 834 036