IBASHO presents two retrospective solo exhibitions by Japanese photographers Sudi and Toshiya Watanabe

From 14 September until 2 November 2024, IBASHO is presenting two retrospective solo exhibitions: Beyond Shadow by Sudi and Beyond what you see by Toshiya Watanabe.

About Sudi

Sudi is a photographic artist based in Tokyo, Japan, who started photography to express her written poetry in a visual from. Characteristic for her are high contrasts between light and shadow, changing everyday scenes into extraordinary ones. Sudi believes that aesthetic experiences can be found in common places and moments that are often ignored. 

Using photography, she captures the connection between herself and the universe, in this way documenting her own reality. Regardless of where she is, she trusts her instincts and captures spontaneous, real, fleeting moments without any manipulation. Simply a rapid-eyed response to an unconscious resonance between the scene and her inner self.

For Sudi, photography is an active meditation and life-giving form. As she describes, photography transports her elsewhere ‘allowing an escape from my surroundings and filling the emptiness I always feel ’. In her work she incorporates her personal relation to Japanese society, by observing it from a distance.

The first artist book of Sudi titled Beyond Shadow published by IBASHO, will be launched during the vernissage on Saturday 14 September.

Sudi
​Beyond Shadow
​​IBASHO gallery
​Tolstraat 67, 2000 Antwerp
​14 September - 2 November 2024
​Vernissage on Saturday 14 September

Images

About Toshiya Watanabe

Toshiya Watanabe was born in Fukushima, Japan, in 1966. During his graphic design studies at Tama Art University in 1990 he was chosen by PARCO art competition in Japan as one of the top 20 most promising photographers. Currently, he divides his time between being an art director for advertising and a photographer.

In his series Somewhere not Here Watanabe explores the depths of consciousness to create his magical realistic images. Magical realism questions what’s being represented in front of the viewer’s eyes and endows everything with a deeper meaning. In Watanabe’s photographs of real landscapes, such as the sea, the city and vegetation, reality disappears, resulting in a feeling of being ‘not here, but somewhere else’. Both instability and beauty exist in the pictures for which Watanabe used infrared film. The series Somewhere not Here uses society as a subject, focusing on something that appears and disappears underneath everyday life. 

He continues his exploration of magical realism in the series Beyond what you see, which is a continuation of Somewhere not Here. Like Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, Watanabe depicts the subjects in his photographs in-between the mystical and the real world, creating a sense of confusion in the viewer. Watanabe’s work has also something similar to the Japanese concept of ‘ma’, a moment of silence or emptiness for awareness and contemplation. His work stimulates the viewer to pause, reflect and engage with the world around us.

Both projects, Somewhere not here and Beyond what you see are on display at IBASHO. The exhibition also celebrates the launch of Watanabe’s new book Beyond what you see published in 2024 by IBASHO together with The(M)editions (Paris). 

Toshiya Watanabe ​
​Beyond what you see
​​IBASHO gallery
​​Tolstraat 67, 2000 Antwerp
​14 September - 2 November 2024

Images