Thursday 6 May 9:00pm via Zoom Live from Japan
Takashi Arai is a is a Kawasaki / Tono based visual artist and filmmaker.
Arai first encountered photography whilst studying biology at university. In an effort to trace photography to its origins, he encountered the daguerreotype, and after much trial and error mastered the complex technique. Takashi doesn’t see the daguerreotype as a nostalgic reproduction of a classical method. He has made it his own personal medium, finding it a reliable device for storing memories, and one which is far better for recording and transmitting interactions with his subjects than modern photography.
Since the beginning in 2010, when he first became interested in nuclear issues, Arai has used the daguerreotype technique to create individual records—micro-monuments— touch upon the fragmented reality of events in the past. His encounters with surviving crew members, and the salvaged hull, of the fallout-contaminated Daigo Fukuryūmaru fishing boat, led him to photograph the deeply interconnected subjects of Fukushima, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, this artist was shaken by the helplessly narrow outlook of his country and was motivated to hear first hand how teenagers were feeling about the present situation.
His major projects include Here and There – Tomorrow’s History: documentary-style daguerreotypes created in Fukushima after the triple disasters in 2011, Exposed in a Hundred Suns: the series of historical monuments in the Atomic Age, Tomorrow’s History: teenager’s portraits and interviews collected in historically stigmatized cities, and Daily Daguerreotype Project among others.
In 2022, Arai is due to exhibit at the Royal Photographic Society in the group show Squaring the Circles curated by Zelda Cheatle. He will be exhibiting Work inspired by Kurt Günther along with past LIP speakers David George, Tom Hunter, Ian Philips McLaren and upcoming speaker Joy Gregory.
Arai’s work has appeared in numerous exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Mori Art Museum, Modern Museum of Art Tokyo and many other international venues. In 2016, Arai received the 41st Kimura Ihei Award for his first monograph, “MONUMENTS”. His recent short film, “The Mirror of the Oshira Deity” won the category prize at the 72nd Salerno International Film Festival in 2018.
Arai’s works are held in the Smithsonian Institution collections, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo among others.
Since 2017, Arai has been actively working as a researcher for interdisciplinary studies, such as “Interdisciplinary Studies of Radiation Effects on the Everyday Life of Victims” and “Anima Philosophica: Nature, Disaster, and Animism in Japan” (Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University).
www.takashiarai.com
Instagram: @daily_dag