A photo exhibition called “Hidden Japan” was opened here on Wednesday. It opened a window to Japan’s hidden beauty and reflected the Japanese people’s creativity and their intense adoration of nature. “Hidden Japan” is an exhibition of photographs taken by Kijuro Yahagi, a renowned Japanese photographer, who has won numerous prestigious awards both in Japan and abroad. The exhibition was organised by Embassy of Japan and the Japan Foundation, in collaboration with National Art Gallery, PNCA. Akira Kono, Charge d’Affaires of Embassy of Japan inaugurated the exhibition. PNCA Director General Tauqir Nasir and Visual Arts PNCA Director Musarrat Nahid Imam were also present on the occasion.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Akira Kono said the photographs captured the images that were centered on the mixing of nature’s elements into modern Japanese life, and at times into cosmopolitan aspect of the country. He added that the photographer had interspersed surrealism in such a way that even the ordinary elements of nature would display their significance. Describing the theme of the photographs, he said the underlying motif of the photographs was nature and its beauty like mountains, rivers, rock and trees. “They also include man-made gardens, architectures, historic and modern as well as the urban landscapes and infrastructure. But nature, for the photographer, is never quite and static. It is always dynamic and in motion,” he said.
The exhibition comprises 85 black-and-white photographs selected from “Hidden Japan– Shizen ni Hisomu Nihon,” a collection of photographs taken by Kijuro Yahagi. The photographer has explained his work in these words:
“In gazing at the nature of Japan as it is, the present state of the country emerges through my photographs.”
Yahagi’s collection of hidden Japan includes stills of nature, landscapes, and rock gardens, mountains, traditional and modern Japanese architecture, city road networks, modern city structures that blend with nature and a host of other mesmerizing visuals. Each exhibited picture brings to the surface glimpses of various aspects of Japan.
Yahagi has won many prizes in art and design competitions. “Hidden Japan” won Silver Prize from New York’s Art Directors Club at its 9th International Annual Exhibition in 1995.
Besides, the same exhibition has toured the USA, Canada, France, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran and Sri Lanka.
The exhibition will remain open for the public from 17 November to 27 December, from 9 am to 5 pm daily except on Mondays and public holidays.
