Oct 1st-7th, 2021 / 2021年10月1~7日
SAMURAI FOTO group exhibition, “The Power of Photography” was held in Tokyo from October 1st to 7th.
Since our life has been changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we can’t see when it’s over. People had to stay home under the state of emergency. We had been thinking what we could do with photography and we decided to hold the group exhibition to encourage people in Japan. We were also depressed because our exhibitions in foreign countries were postponed due to the pandemic. Some of the members held their own exhibitions in Italy and Moscow. One of the members gave a lecture online at the international photo festival. Each of us tried to maintain the motivation of making artworks. Under any circumstances, we looked for a way to keep the relationship with people who were involved in art photography around the world. And their efforts inspired us greatly.
While we saw the hard efforts of people involved in photographic art museums and galleries in Japan and overseas, we wanted to encourage many people who were having hard times and feeling depressed in this pandemic by showing our artworks. We would like to see if there was any way in which we could be of help.
なかなか収束しないコロナの感染と緊急事態宣言の中、SAMURAI FOTOでは「写真の力で何かできないか」と考えて開催されたのが今回のグループ展です。私たち自身も海外でのグループ展が延期になったままで意気消沈することもありました。それでも個々にはイタリアやモスクワで個展を開催したり、国際写真フェスティバルにオンラインでレクチャーを行ったりして、作品制作のモチベーションを下げないように努力してきました。それはどんな状況下でも写真作品を通じて交流する方法を世界のアート写真関係者それぞれが懸命に活動している証でもあり、それによって私たちも大いに鼓舞されました。
国内外の写真美術館やギャラリーの皆さんのそんな努力を実感する中で、私たちも自分たちの作品を見てもらうことで「コロナ禍で大変な思いをされた方や気持ちが塞がれている方を少しでも元気づけたい」というのがこのグループ展のテーマです。
Exhibition Announcement / 写真展告知ページ
Roppongi striped house, a 4-minute walk from Roppongi Station was the place where our group exhibition was held. The exhibition venue was on the 1st floor and the 1st basement level.
六本木駅から徒歩4分の六本木ストライプスペースのB1、1Fの2フロアが展示会場です。
ストライプスペース Home Page
From 2:00 pm on October 2, a seminar “How to make an effective artwork for the world” was delivered on the zoom. Mr. Tomikawa, an expert of color management from X-lite, led the event. Hiroaki Hasumi, Koji Sasaki, Kazuhiro Sasaki, and Michiko Chiyoda from SAMURAI FOTO shared their experiences overseas. They talked about how they chose paper and how they decided whether to make their artwork a color photo or a white and black one. They also gave some tips on how to make good artworks that would be accepted in the art market abroad.
Here is the video of the event.
10月2日(土)の14時からセミナー「世界で通用するプリントとは」をZOOMで配信。カラーマネージメントのエキパートであるX-rite社の冨川さんの司会で、メンバーの蓮見浩明さん、佐々木浩二さん、佐々木一弘さん、千代田路子さんが「用紙はどのように決めているか」「カラーとモノクロの決め方」など、世界のアート市場で認められるプリントにするための経験談を語りました。
録画はこちら
Hopefully, we will be able to hold our next group exhibition overseas in 2022. We are planning to have another photo exhibition in Japan next year, too. Wishing you a good year……We are looking forward to seeing you all again.
2022年には海外でのグループ展の報告ができることを祈りつつ、皆様にとって良い一年になりますように……。SAMURAI FOTOは来年も国内での個展やグループ展を予定しています。皆様にまたお会いできる日を楽しみにしています。
Nothing will make us happier than having visitors share their thoughts.