Boxing Day saw the inauguration of the exhibition Emergence Tokyo at the Terranova House in Yoyogi-Uehara. Terranova House is a two-storey tower, well-lit with open spaces that were ideal for setting up individual displays in the form of a collective exhibition.
Michael Harris brought together a group of young, and not so young artists based on the theme of "Emergence", as defined by Wikipedia: “emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviours which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.”
In line with this theme, the exhibition was made up of the work produced by an eclectic group of artists, almost all of them new and nearly all of them photographers. In total, six photographers and a graphic artist who, with their work, created Emergence Tokyo.
Katsumi Nishizawa exhibited a series of photographs taken on a journey from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian railway. Documentary-style black and white photos with a few portraits. He normally uses an analogue Leica.
Erin Cross presented her collection entitled DYPSCHIT (for which a book has also been published, available on her website), comprising two hundred small-format photos taken using a mobile phone, based on scenes from her everyday life and pairing these up by the same day they were unplanned taken. All these photographs were projected in the middle of her display to allow the viewers not only to have the option to move closer or farther but choose their own way of pairing the images, depending on how they viewed each.
Shin Yatagai. One end of the room was set aside to create a space for this photographer, darkened using opaque fabrics to prevent the ambient light from entering. His photographs consisted of small and medium-format portraits and also landscapes, all framed within this combination of light and dark. According to the photographer, the aim of this dark setting and small format was to get visitors to observe the images more closely and uncover new things in an ambience whose darkness encouraged people to reflect on the photographs. He used two cameras: a Rolleiflex (obviously analogue) and a digital Canon.
Johan Brooks exhibited two series of medium-format first quality prints. One was in black and white, based on the practices of voluntary firefighters, taken at night and emphasising the contrast of light and dark, entitled "Fire Corps". The other series, in colour and entitled "Tokyo Jiken", documented "accidental" situations in Tokyo. His cameras are two Sony A7S combined with different manual lenses, namely Voigtländer 21mm 1.8 and 40mm 1.4.
Ryusei Takahashi. A journalist for the Japan Times, he created an original display with photos of different formats, hanging in the air from nylon thread. Scenes from everyday life, in black and white and colour, including an image of the cherry trees in blossom (sakura) in Meguro during a snowfall, published on the cover of the newspaper where he works. He shoots with a digital Leica.
Marielle Awad. A graphic artist who presented her work, all on traditional Japanese themes, created in fineliner ink and also watercolours. Her series ranged from figures of birds to the sake offerings at the temple Meiji Jingu, as well as Koinobori, and scenes and landscapes typical of Japanese artwork.
Miyuki Kurosaki. Her display was entitled "Shoes Monday Paris-Tokyo" and consisted of a collection of photographs on the theme of "shoes", together with pieces of clothing, in black and white as well as colour, taken in Paris and Tokyo. She always uses FujiFilm cameras, the X-T2 and X-T30.
All the works exhibited came as a pleasant surprise to me. Katsumi because of his stylistic seriousness in dealing with a documentary subject. Erin because of her enterprising, commercially-oriented approach and original display. Shin due to the symbiosis created between the space used for his work and the images on display. Johan because of the great effects achieved with dark and light in his black and white photographs. Ryusei due to simple, opportunistic nature of his images. Marielle because of the incredible detail in her drawings and, finally, Muyiki because of her passion for fashion expressed in her "Shoes Monday" collection.