Rinko Kawauchi is a photographer who is highly acclaimed both in Japan and overseas for her delicate sensitivity that reveals the fragility and fundamental vitality that reside within the subjects of her works. For this exhibition, which takes the form of a dialogue between two photographers, Kawauchi has chosen to exhibit with Tokuko Ushioda. Kawauchi says of Ushioda, “I respect the fact that she has been active as a photographer since a time when it was difficult for women to advance in society, and that she is sincerely committed to engaging with the life that unfolds in front of her.” This exhibition brings together photographs taken by each of them of their families.
Kawauchi will present two series. Cui Cui, on the theme of the family cycle, is a collection of photos taken over a 13-year period that covers the death of her grandfather, with whom she had lived with since she was born and whom she photographed as a practice subject during her days as a student, and the birth of her nephew. as it is captures children and familiar scenes she encountered during the three years after she gave birth herself.
Ushioda began her career as a freelance photographer in 1975. Soon after the birth of their daughter Maho in 1978, she and her husband, photographer Shinzo Shimao, moved to a Western-style house (formerly the Theodora Ozaki residence) built in 1888 in Tokyo’s Gotokuji district. This exhibition includes My Husband, a series of photographs she took of her husband, daughter, and their lives in this Western-style home over the seven years following Maho’s birth, and ICE BOX, a series of photographs of refrigerators belonging to relatives, acquaintances, and friends, taken over a twenty-year period, that originated from fixed-point observation of her own refrigerator as a means of documenting her life.
Family, home, daily life, death and birth—the gaze of these two photographers, who carefully capture presences and activities that are familiar yet ever-changing, find their own light in small moments that lie hidden within our daily lives, transcending the ages.
Tokuko Ushioda (b. 1940 in Tokyo, Japan) studied under Yasuhiro Ishimoto and Kiyoji Otsuji at Kuwasawa Design School and graduated in 1963. She taught at Kuwasawa Design School and Tokyo Zokei University from 1966 to 1978. She has worked as a freelance photographer since 1975. In 2018 her Bibliotheca series won the Domon Ken Award, the Photographic Society of Japan’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Higashikawa International Photo Festival’s Domestic Photographer Award. Other representative works include ICE BOX, in which she photographed the contents of various families’ refrigerators. In 2019 she won the Kuwasawa Special Award.
This exhibition, a dialogue between two female photographers of different generations, is supported by Women In Motion, a Kering program to shine a light on women in the fields of arts and culture. Since 2015, Women In Motion has provided a platform for reflection on the role of women – challenging mindsets and providing opportunities for greater recognition of their contributions in all areas of the arts.
