{"id":1477,"date":"2016-04-29T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T04:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/?p=1477"},"modified":"2018-09-13T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T18:47:14","slug":"lieberman_younger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/2016\/04\/29\/lieberman_younger\/","title":{"rendered":"The Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Screen<\/a>
Rinko Kawauchi. Untitled, 2005. Chromogenic Print. 9 5\/8 x 9 5\/8 in. (\u00a9 Rinko Kawauchi).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography<\/em>
\n<\/strong> J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA<\/strong>
\nOctober 26, 2015 – February 21, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1990s, critic Iizawa K\u014dtar\u014d coined the phrase \u201cgirl photography\u201d to refer to the work of young Japanese photographers who happened to be women. The Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography, <\/em>on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum, in Los Angeles from October 26, 2015 – February 21, 2016 is curator Amanda Maddox\u2019s challenge to this sexist, homogenizing label. The exhibition presents the work of five women photographers \u2013 Kawauchi Rinko, Onodera Yuki, Otsuka Chino, Sawada Tomoko, and Shiga Lieko \u2013 demonstrating how the diversity and range in their work counters \u201cthe idea that \u2018girl photography\u2019 could define a generation of practitioners.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/span><\/a> Despite Maddox\u2019s stated aims and the strength of the work in the exhibition, the show lacks sufficient context to truly explain and then dispel the concept of \u201cgirl photography.\u201d Further, it does not embed \u201cgirl photography\u201d within a larger history of Japanese photography or of sexism in contemporary art. In short, it fails to establish why the problematic label \u201cgirl photography\u201d must be addressed rather than dismissed or ignored.<\/p>\n

The Younger Generation <\/em>occupies two small rooms at the back of the Getty\u2019s West Pavilion. The first room of the exhibition pairs two surrealist series: Onodera Yuki\u2019s Portraits of Second-hand Clothes <\/em>(1994-1997) and Shiga Lieko\u2019s Rasen Kaigan <\/em>(2008-2012). The garments in Onodera\u2019s images seem playful; they dance in the breeze and invite viewers to consider them as objects with their own histories and character. Lieko\u2019s odd, fantastical subjects (a man with an uprooted tree protruding from his chest, a couple wading through a purple swamp) are compelling responses to the impacts of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant accident in the T\u014dhoku region, yet the exhibition provides little context for interpreting the images. The wall text states that \u201cthe series . . . showcases the chaos and mysteriousness of this strange place associated with mythology, natural disaster, and trauma,\u201d but these generalizations do not help viewers understand these associations or how Lieko employs them.[2]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Sawada Tomoko\u2019s OMIAI<\/em>\u2661 (2001), presented through 30 images hung salon-style on a single wall, is the clear focal point of the second gallery. This installation recalls the sample image wall at a portrait studio, appropriate since OMIAI means \u201carranged marriage meeting\u201d and refers to the tradition of studio portraits used in matchmaking.[3]<\/span><\/span><\/a> Posing under bright studio lights that cast a heart-shaped shadow in the background, Sawada alters her hair, make-up clothing, pose and expression to present herself as different characters. Creating a balance between repetition and variety throughout the images, Sawada imbues the series with humor and playfulness.<\/p>\n

\"Tomoko<\/a>
Tomoko Sawada. OMIAI \u2661 2001. Chromogenic Print. 32 11\/16 x 25 13\/16 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Purchased with funds provided by the Photographs Council (\u00a9 Sawada Tomoko).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kawauchi Rinko\u2019s Cui Cui<\/em> (1992-2005) and Otsuka Chino\u2019s Imagine Finding Me <\/em>(1998-2012) feature small-format, contemplative works and extend across two walls on either side of Sawada\u2019s OMIAI<\/em>\u2661 series. Through Kawauchi\u2019s lens, a bowl of strawberries topped with sugar becomes a meditation on textures. But images of the death of the photographer\u2019s grandfather and the birth of her nephew are interspersed with such mundane subject matter, aligning the two types of images as moments within the rhythms of life. Otsuka\u2019s photographs from Imagine Finding Me <\/em>are equally quiet, poetic images that suggest narrative fragments. In her imaginative self-portraits, Otsuka inserts her current likeness into snapshots of herself as a child. Sometimes the adult Otsuka is an unobtrusive passerby. In other instances she is beside her younger self, recast as a friend, mother, or older sister. As with Sawada\u2019s OMIAI<\/em>\u2661, there is a certain pleasure in being able to read how Otsuka\u2019s images have been manipulated. There\u2019s a subtle, wry humor in Imagine Finding Me, <\/em>as Otsuka stages these moments in which her older and younger selves \u201cmeet\u201d across time.<\/p>\n

The goal of the exhibition is to challenge the concept of \u201cgirl photography,\u201d but the exhibition does not truly engage with the specific ways that this label could be interpreted or how particular works in this exhibition defy such limiting categorization. Maddox implies in her introductory panel that \u201cgirl photography\u201d is an obsolete concept, but she does not fully deconstruct it through the exhibition. Once introduced, \u201cgirl photography\u201d is not mentioned again. Brief additions to the wall text for each series would have developed the argument for how the photographs in the exhibition demonstrate the limits of this label. Because the exhibition assembles compelling works that can be valued for their conceptual and technical strength rather than defined primarily by the artists\u2019 gender, The Younger Generation <\/em>chips away at \u201cgirl photography,\u201d but does not quite succeed in dismissing it.<\/p>\n

Shannon M. Lieberman<\/em><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Exhibition Website: http:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/exhibitions\/younger_gen\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Recommended Listening: Audio of the panel discussion \u201cA Reaction Against \u2018Girl Photography<\/a>.\u2019\u201d Getty Center, LA, October 15, 2015.<\/p>\n

Endnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u201cThe Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography,\u201d published online 2015, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, http:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/exhibitions\/youngergen.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u201cThe Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography,\u201d published online 2015, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, http:\/\/www.getty.edu\/art\/exhibitions\/youngergen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/span><\/span><\/a> Tomoko Sawada, OMIAI<\/em>\u2661 (Kyoto: Seigensha Art Publishing, Inc., 2005), np.<\/p>\n

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The Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA October 26, 2015 – February 21, 2016 In the 1990s, critic Iizawa K\u014dtar\u014d coined the phrase \u201cgirl photography\u201d to refer to the work of young Japanese photographers who happened to be women. The Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography, on view at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10585,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1477"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1825,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions\/1825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sequitur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}