RINKO KAWAUCHI [japan]

AILA + the eyes, the ears

25 . NOVEMBER 2006 - 21 . JANUARY 2007

This is much biology in Rinko Kawauchis pictures, one can sense that we humans are on equal footing as the animals and plants in her universe - or that the animals and plants in Rinko’s pictures are symbols of human existence. One thing is certain, in this universe the frailty of life is equal to it’s beauty.
Rinko Kawauchi says of her photographic sensibility and working process: “It is essential for a photographer to be able to photograph in a magical way. Accidents are necessary...”

There is an underlying atmosphere of the unexplainable in Rinko Kawauchi’s disturbingly beautiful pictures. That which at first seems ordinary, adopts, due to her knife-edge sensibility, a wider and more universal meaning. Her photography revolves around the themes of beauty, life and death. Pictures of fireworks, a new-born baby and fish are juxtapositioned with close-ups of icicles, plants, butterflies and an open mouth. Together these elements create a magically coherent, but also disturbing visual flow.

Rinko Kawauchi photographs the everyday life that is close to her, and combines these snapshots with impressive tableaux. The result is a form of visual ‘haiku’ with it’s own special figurative language. The mute colours and the blinding play of light lend a transparent effect to the pictures. The juxtapositioning and editing of the images are just as important an aspect of the process as composing and taking the picture according to the artist herself. Rinko’s work should be seen as a coherent narrative, and it is this narrative that lifts the many faceted everyday motifs to a higher plane.

Rinko Kawauchi (born 1972) has in spite of her young age, been the focus of international attention since the turn of the century. The renown photographic magazine, Aperture, presented Rinko on the cover in 2004 as one of her generations greatest photographers.
She has published six books and in 2002 was awarded the prestigious Japanese Kimura Ihei
Award for the photobook’s “Utatane” and “Hanabi”.

The book “AILA” (2005) is a 4 year project that deals with life's beginings. AILA is the turkish word for large family or family relations. “the eyes, the ears” comprises everyday images, the title relating to everything that can be recorded with all five senses. The exhibition
AILA + the eyes, the ears, combines a narrative connection between the books thus adding new meaning and interpretation.

The exhibition is arranged by Miriam Nielsen in co-operation with Foil/Rinko Kawauchi and Fotografisk Center and it continues on to The Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, Sweden.