Erika Yoshino – Windows of the World

amanaTIGP is pleased to present Erika Yoshino’s solo exhibition “Windows of the World”. This will be the artist’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery following her previous show four years ago, and her first since receiving the 34th Higashikawa New Photographer Award and the 18th Sagamihara Prize for Newcomer Professionals in 2018. It will feature a selection of 17 works shot since 2017.

Yoshino has remained unchanged in the pursuit of her photographic practice amid the rapid changes in lifestyle that have been brought on over the past few years. The keywords for the works presented on this occasion, are in reference to a song that Yoshino felt demonstrated a similar spirit to herself and her current manner of expression.

“The Windows of the World” is the title of a song by American singer Dionne Warwick, produced by lyricist Hal David and composer Burt Bacharach in 1967.
The song uses koto-like stringed instruments and finger cymbals to create a dewy and deep tune that evokes the sound of raindrops hitting a window.
In later years, Bacharach said of his own sound-making, “It may be easy on the ears, but it is not easy. So, this kind of ‘ambiguity’ is ambiguity itself”.
As society becomes more complex and a sense of stagnation grows daily, I was deeply touched by the nuance and atmospheric compositions that I felt from this piece, when I thought again about the relationship between the balance of the individual and the world.
The narrative occurring within mirrors reflecting a moment that disappears in the blink of an eye seems to question essential things through the difference in people’s attitudes towards the world.
The scene seen through the viewfinder is a window for me to know the world.
I wish for windows and the windows of the world to be filled with prismatic light.

Erika Yoshino, September 2022

Yoshino’s series of photographs capture fleeting instances within ordinary everyday scenes by means of her pure gaze that extends through the viewfinder, and by preserving such ephemeral moments forever using the medium of photography, permeating her work with a unique sense of gravity. These photographs in which tranquility and strength harmoniously coexist in a manner characteristic of Yoshino’s work, have attained further maturity through her identification with the message that is conveyed in “The Windows of the World.” While drawing on the technique of street photography, Yoshino’s personal intentions seem to intervene in her work. For example, a brilliant collection of flowers is captured together with a page featuring her own name, also a genus for a flowering plant, and on another occasion, she turns her gaze to look at the scenery reflected in the mirror. The world of her work, while evoking the countless disparities that are interspersed throughout our ever-changing present, appears to resonate with a beautiful melody of hope for the future — orchestrated by us who live in a society where it is possible to easily access events around the world, and where the boundaries between the self and others have become ambiguous.

Erika Yoshino was born in Honjo City, Saitama Prefecture in 1970. She began photographing in 1989, and graduated from Tokyo College of Photography in 1994. During her studies, she continued her photographic practice while being influenced by photographers such as Kiyoshi Suzuki. Since the mid 1990’s, Yoshino has exhibited multiple monochrome works as street photography. In 2010, she began producing works in color: her works, shot in and around Tokyo, are tranquil but forcefully draw their viewers in with their unique worldview. Her works are included in the collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.

Gallery hours Tue-Sat 12 – 6 pm, closed on Sun, Mon and National Holidays

The gallery will implement necessary measures to prevent coronavirus infections.

Exhibition Duration 12.11. – 10.12.2022

www.takaishiigallery.com

Location:
amanaTIGP
AXIS building 2F, 5-17-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku
106-0032 Tokyo
Japan