the 34-year-old artist rinko kawauchi captures the
beauty of ordinary moments which we often ignore.
she speakes quietly of the profundity of quotidian things.
kawauchi has become one of the most celebrated
japanese photographers of her generation.
the exhibition at the milanese gallery carla sozzani
is a large selection of photographs from her latest series
‘aila’ (2004), ‘cui cui’ (2005) and ‘the eyes, the ears’ (2005).

kawauchi's themes
of family, human interaction with nature and the cycle
of life are photographed in pastel colours.
her work reveals exquisite delicacy, achieved through sensate
compositions, a careful attention to texture and the cultivation
of a beautifully clear, clean, often whitish light.
she interweaves sensitized ways of perceiving the world
around her, with the fleeting conflations of forms that make
you wonder how one photographer mangaged to be present,
attuned and ready to photograph so many pungent
observations. once rinko kawauchi said:
‘for a photographer, it's a necessity that you can shoot stuff
magically. accidents are necessary, but after I take a
photograph, it is not all done. I continue to work on it.’
she suggests that the editing and presentation of the work
is as important to the final image as composing and taking
the photograph itself. at times she presented her work
alongside her own haiku poetry.

‘aila’
(which means ‘family’ in turkish) is the depiction of the
essence of life. nature in its various stages from birth to
death. flower buds open, hives of insects crawl and the
head of a slaughtered chicken hangs over a chopping block.

‘cui cui’
is presented as a slideshow, and provides an intimate
insight into kawauchi’s own family.
birds chirp and trees rustle in the soundtrack as you
watch her family go through daily rituals and major
events such as birth and death.
this mesmerising series of over 50 images was taken
over 12 years. it could be your family album, which
will stir a memory of days gone by.
the work has a sobering effect on the viewer that at
once reveals the fragility of our lives whilst celebrating the
beauty experienced when reflecting on the joy and tragedy
of the human condition.

‘the eyes, the ears’
photographs that utitlize lens flare to make everday
situations appear dreamy and soft, images taken from
usual everyday life, and whispery words put together
by the photographer.

rinko kawauchi
was born in 1972 in shiga, japan.
she discovered photography whilst studying at
seian junior college of art and design.
kawauchi gained international acclaim in 2001 with
the simultaneous release of three photography books
with little more publishing : utatane (catnap),
hanabi (fireworks) and hanako, for which she was
awarded with the 27th ihei kimura photography award.
in a matter of a few years she published another
three significant books : aila (2004) with little more
publishing; cui cui (2005) and the eyes the ears (2005)
with foil publishing.
rinko kawauchi recently has done still photographs
for the movie ‘nobody knows’ of the japanese filmmaker
hirokazu kore-eda and the cover photograph of the
best-seller book ‘sekai-no-chusin-de-ai-wo-sakebu’.
in 2004, martin parr included her in the
‘rencontres internationales de la photographie d'arles’;
there has been a large-scale exhibition in paris at the
fondation cartier pour l'art contemporain in 2005,
as well as personal exhibitions at little more gallery
and cohan and leslie gallery in new york.

currently on show also
at the priska pasquer gallery, cologne, germany
(introductory speech by martin parr)
from september, 22 to december 22, 2006
http://www.priskapasquer.de