ZEN FOTO GALLERY

Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to present “Mirror”, an exhibition of photographs by Liu Ke & Huang Huang from 24 May to 15 June. Based in Chengdu, China, the artist duo felt that they were the mirror of each other when they first met and began taking a photo of each other every day in 2017 for two years to rediscover their relationship, which allowed them to observe and interact with each other, exploring a new photographic relationship and creating a visual dialogue between two people. The series of 730 pairs of photographs received the Three Shadows Photography Award in 2019 and the publication of the series was released in 2022 by Zen Foto Gallery. This exhibition marks the first exhibition in Japan by the artist duo and will present a selection of 25 pairs of photographs from the photobook, as well as a video installation of the rest of the works. The artist duo will be visiting Tokyo for this exhibition. We will hold a talk event and an opening reception to celebrate the exhibition on 25 May.

We are a pair of artistic partners whose lives have been intertwined for more than 20 years.

We met in 2003, and our common love for art became the main source of energy between us. Later, we went to the Three Gorges and traveled in and out of the area repeatedly, just like the intersection of dream and reality — we met the river and the people unexpectedly as if we met ourselves. Three years later, the work “Still Lake” was completed, and we had our own children. Later on, we moved to the outskirts of Chengdu with our children, where we played, created and grew up together. Six years flew by. Time has also eliminated our passion and sensitivity towards each other. Starting in 2017, we made a promise to take a picture of each other every day, wanting to do something “fruitless” again to rediscover our relationship with each other — searching and waiting in the process. This creation lasted for two years, and every day in the two years, we observed each other as a mirror — these 730 days and 1460 photos will remain in each other’s lives forever.

After experiencing the haze of the pandemic, when art was still our only outlet, we tried to create a “Brave New World” — another possibility of existence — in our new performance video creation, to resist the passage of time and the emptiness of reality with our joint creation, to explore more possibilities in our relationship with each other and with everything in the world, and to open the door of perception — to perceive and experience the sacredness and infinity of all things, and to search for some kind of eternal existence from an individual perspective and a dual perspective.

As a creative duo, we participate in the dialogue as individuals and try to transcend the traditional gender roles and identity differences to establish a state of balance, pursuing the commonality of human beings, and returning to the essence of human beings — a more sublime spiritual world. We hope to arouse the viewers to think about themselves, others and the world, and to establish a longer-term concern beyond the material world.

— Liu Ke & Huang Huang

Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to present “Lotus”, an exhibition of photographs by Hitomi Watanabe from 26 April to 18 May. This will be Watanabe’s fourth solo presentation at Zen Foto Gallery, following her previous exhibition “Tenjiku in Colour” (2022). The exhibition will also celebrate the recent publication of her latest photography book, under the same title, published by Yasosha on 8 April. Watanabe began travelling in Asia during the early 1970s, just as the student movement was coming to an end. Until then, she had been taking photographs to document the “Todai Zenkyoto” — student protests organized by the All-Campus Joint Struggle Committees at the University of Tokyo. This body of work is one of Watanabe’s most representative works and is currently on display in the “Absolute Chairs” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama through 12 May. Upon returning to Japan, Watanabe began taking photographs of lotus flowers that symbolize her encounter with the original home of her soul during the journey. This exhibition showcases a carefully curated selection of images from her photobook, a compilation of the series she spent many years capturing.

Once upon a time, in Bodh Gaya, India —
Hot season, hot place where the temperature reaches 50°C during the day.

One early morning in May,
I was sitting by a lotus pond in the grounds of a temple.
I could faintly hear the sound of petals opening —
There was also a gentle fragrance in the air.

As I was enveloped by the faint fragrance,
The lotus forest in front of me shook heavily.
A village girl appeared, paddling a long, narrow canoe.
I wondered if she had come to offer flowers —
She picked the flowers that were still in bud,
As if she was weaving her way through the lotuses —

Years have passed since then —
When I first saw the native lotus at the Usa Jingu Shrine,
Memories submerged at the bottom of the water began to overflow —
I heard the signal for the beginning.

— Hitomi Watanabe