Japan House London Announces First Photography Exhibition Featuring Major Japanese Artists

• Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai features two of the most significant Japanese photographers working today: Kawada Kikuji and Iwane Ai.  
• Kawada Kikuji presents a selected survey of his works from the 1950s to today, including his seminal series Chizu (The Map, 1965). 
• Iwane Ai shows A New River (2020), her series taken in the Tōhoku region during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring cherry blossoms at night and figures from Japanese folk traditions, alongside Kipuka (2018), a series exploring Japanese immigrant communities in Hawaii. 
• The celebrated team behind KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival, one of Asia’s largest photography festivals, directs their first UK exhibition.
• This is Japan House London’s first photography exhibition.

Kawada’s diverse and prolific output is often interpreted as an ever-evolving view of Japan’s identity, starting in the years of national reconstruction following World War II. He came to prominence in the 1960s, when he founded the VIVO collective, a groundbreaking group of emerging photographers, and was exhibited at MoMA, New York in 1974. In 2011, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Photographic Society of Japan. 

Iwane hails from Tokyo and attended high school in the United States. Much of her work is transnational in nature, such as her series Kipuka (2018), exploring the lives of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii. Originally photographing on assignment for magazines, her award-winning work has been shown at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum as well as galleries and museums around the world.

Kyotographie features works from Kawada’s series Chizu (The Map, 1965), which went on to form arguably Japan’s most important photobook, abstractly capturing the scars of postwar Hiroshima. Comprising urban snapshots, Los Caprichos (1968-1981) marks a decisive break from previous generations of Japanese photographers. The selection of Kawada’s works has been curated by Sayaka Takahashi from PGI gallery in Tokyo. 

Iwane’s A New River (2020) is also displayed within the exhibition. The series is taken in the Tо̄hoku region during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring cherry blossoms at night accompanied by supernatural folkloric figures, exploring themes of isolation, transience and hope. These will be shown alongside her Kipuka (2018) series, depicting Japanese communities in Hawaii with roots in Fukushima. 

The team behind one of Asia’s biggest photography festivals is directing the exhibition at Japan house London – their first such project in the UK. Founded in 2013, Kyotographie International Photography Festival takes place in Kyoto each spring, with 2025’s festival welcoming almost 300,000 visitors. Iwane and Kawada featured in the festival in 2022 and 2024 respectively, but the Kyotographie exhibition at Japan House London is the first time that they have exhibited together.

Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai is accompanied by a series of events inspired by the photographers and the themes from their works.

“This is the first time Japan House London is dedicating an exhibition to photography. It is a great privilege to present these two artists who are concerned with phenomena that resonate with us all. The show is filled with stories from the past and present that, on reflection, encourage us to contemplate our futures together, regardless of where we are from.” 

The Japan House London Kyotographie: Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai exhibition is supported by Epson UK Ltd.