CHUANNEILUNZI

Halo

Everything seems like dust, hazy in the gloom

The truth appears as a glimmer, in a world below zero

Its ephemerality, a harsh reality

Dust, snow, rain, and scrap iron—spheres, all of them

Bird droppings on a car bonnet

The same, no different

It’s no accident that galaxies and whirling waves share the same shape

Longing to see beautiful things

In awe of things existing yet invisible

Holding on to countless emotions, all intertwined, and stepping forward

Using something small, shining, and distant as a light source

Being led to a place deep in shadow

As I entered, snow fell

Thought it was snow but it was the starling’s droppings

Looking down, snow lies on the ground

Thought it was the rain of blessings

It was also the rain of sorrow

A beautiful halo of light was visible in the distance

artist

Rinko Kawauchi

Born in 1972 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Lives and works in Chiba pref. In 2001 she simultaneously released a series of three photographic books – UTATANE, HANABI, and HANAKO from publisher Little More, and in 2002 she was awarded prestigious 27th Kimura Ihei Award for UTATANE and HANABI. Other noteworthy Rinko Kawauchi publications include AILA (FOIL, 2004), The eyes, the ears, and Cui Cui (FOIL, 2005), Illuminance (Aperture and other 4 publishing firms, 2011) and Ametsuchi (Aperture and other 2 publishing firms, 2013). She also received the eminent Infinity Award in 2009 in the Arts Category by the International Center of Photography, USA, the 63rd Ministry of Cultural Affairs Newcomer of the Year award for 2012, as well as the 29th Shashin no Machi Higashigawa Native Japanese Artist Award. Kawauchi has participated in and hosted a multitude of group and solo exhibitions both within Japan and all over the world. Some of her major solo exhibitions include: AILA + Cui Cui + the eyes, the ears at the Foundation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain, Paris, France (2005); The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK (2006); AILA + the eyes, the ears at the Hasselblad Centre, Göteborg, Sweden (2007); Semear at the Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2007); Cui Cui at The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka, Japan (2008); Illuminance, Ametsuchi, Seeing Shadow at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; The river embraced me at Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto (2015). Notable group exhibitions include: Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France (2004); Foto España, Madrid, Spain (2006); Collection of the Foundation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain at the Museum Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (2006); New Documents at the Brighton Photo Biennial 2010, Brighton, UK (2010); Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art at the Japan Society, New York, USA (2011); Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Montréal, Canada (2011); Prix Pictet at the V&A Museum, London (2017); and Japanorama. A new vision on art since 1970 at the Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2017). In 2018, she published "Halo" from Aperture and other 2 publishing firms. www.rinkokawauchi.com

ACademic advisor

Kasahara Michiko (1957- ) 

Vice director of the Artizon Museum, the Ishibashi Foundation

Born in Nagano prefecture, Japan. B.A. in Sociology, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, 1983 M.A. in photography, Columbia College, Chicago, 1987. Curator of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography from 1989 to 2002.  Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo from 2002 to 2006.  Chief curator of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum from 2007 to 2017.

Selected curatorial works: "Love's Body-Art in the age of AIDS", 2010, "on your body, Japanese contemporary photography", 2008; "ishiuchi miyako, mother's 2000 - 2005, traces of the future", as a commissioner of Japanese pavilion of the 51st Venice biennale, 2005 (which traveled to Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 2006 and The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007); "mot annual, life actually, the works of contemporary japanese women", the museum of contemporary art, Tokyo, 2005; "urban relationship, sustainable" as a guest curator in the part of "2003 City_net Asia" project, the Seoul Museum of Art, 2003; "out of the ordinary/extraordinary: Japanese contemporary photography", Japan Foundation, 2004 (international traveling exhibition); "On Landscape, Contemporary Japanese Photography", 2002; "Kiss in the Dark: Contemporary Japanese Photography", 2001; "American Perspectives: Photographs from the Polaroid Collection", 2000; "Love's Body-Rethinking the Naked and the Nude in Photography", 1998; "Alfred Stieglitz and his Contemporaries", 1997; "Gender Beyond Memory, The Works of Contemporary Women Artists", 1996; "Critical Landscape", 1993; "Border/Borderless, Japanese Contemporary Photography", 1993; "American Documents in the fringe", 1991; "Exploring the Unknown Self-Self-portraits of Contemporary Women", 1991; "Moholy-Nagy and the New Vision", 1990.

*the exhibitions which do not mention the venues was held by and in Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.   

Selected Books: "Essays on Photography from Gender Perspective 1991 -2017", Satoyama-sha, 2018. "Photographs of the War, Its History and Meaning", The Politics Behind the War, Seikyu-sha, Tokyo, 2004; Photography As a Bulwark Against Era, Seikyu-sha, Tokyo, 2002; The Politics Behind the Nude, Chikuma Shobo, Tokyo, 1998.  

curator

RongRong & inri

RongRong (China) and inri (Japan) have been working together since 2000. Their works reflect the intimate world that they have created together and push the boundaries of traditional black-and-white darkroom techniques. Their critically acclaimed series of works, such as Mt. Fuji (2001), Liulitun (1996-2003), and Tsumari Story (2012-2014), reflect their shared life and surroundings, delving into the rapidly changing world around them.

In 2007, RongRong & inri established the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in the Beijing arts district Caochangdi. In 2008, they launched the annual Three Shadows Photography Award, a prize aimed at discovering and encouraging China’s most promising young photographers. In 2010, they started a collaboration with the Arles International Photography Festival (Les Rencontres d'Arles) and co-produced the Caochangdi Photo Spring Festival in Beijing for three years – from 2010 to 2012. They have continued this collaboration at Three Shadows’ Xiamen location, where since 2015 they have co-hosted the Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival.