Carrie Cushman writes on the collaborative exhibition between Ishiuchi Miyako and Touyama Yuhki.
| Those in and around Kyoto this spring should not miss the international photography festival, Kyotographie, which takes place at historic and contemporary sites throughout the city. Of particular note for Behind the Camera is a collaborative exhibition between the two women photographers of different generations, Ishiuchi Miyako and Touyama Yuhki. One of the most celebrated Japanese photographers today, Ishiuchi was invited to select | another woman photographer for a joint exhibition. She chose for her acclaimed series Mother’s to be in dialogue with the recent work of Touyama Yuhki. Carrie Cushman, one of the co-creators of Behind the Camera, was invited to write a reflection on the exhibition for a small publication produced by IMA and available at the exhibition site. |
“Not only do we see the world as the departed saw it—through their possessions, through their windows—but we wink to see the world anew just as they might have, a world close to death.”
CARRIE CUSHMAN
GALLERY DIRECTOR AND CURATOR, HARTFORD ART SCHOOL
| In her short essay, Cushman reflects on the themes and subjects that tie the two bodies of work together, namely how photography enables and enacts ongoing conversations with the departed. “All the photographs in this exhibition are beholden to the dying and deaths of loved ones, specifically mothers and grandmothers,” she writes. | “Not only do we see the world as the departed saw it—through their possessions, through their windows—but we wink to see the world anew just as they might have, a world close to death.” The exhibition at the Kondaya Genbei Chikuin-no-Ma site runs through May 15, 2023. It is sponsored by the Kering program, WOMEN IN MOTION. |