When Kondaya held her “Family Album/Love and Ecstasy” exhibition at KYOTOGRAPHIE 2017, Isabel Muñoz was deeply moved by the Kondaya textiles and the antique Japanese fabrics that Genbei Yamaguchi (the current head of Kondaya Genbei) had then introduced to her. This led her to be acutely interested in the fundamentals of Japan as its own being, and she started creating her works with ‘Japan’ as her subject. In 2017, Isabel revisited Japan, and under the coordination of KYOTOGRAPHIE, photographed Genbei Yamaguchi and dancer Min Tanaka on the island of Amami Ōshima, an island with remnants of untouched nature and home to one of Kondaya’s workshops. In this exhibition are displayed those photographic and videographic works.
Additionally, 3 works of obi by Genbei Yamaguchi will be on public display for the first time. For each obi, the platinum prints that Isabel Muñoz had made in Spain were cut into strings and woven up in Kyoto. Dance costumes that Genbei Yamaguchi made for his longtime friend Min Tanaka, will also be on exhibition.
Kondaya Genbei Kurogura, Okuzashiki
10:00 - 18:00
Admission accepted 30 mins before the venue closes.
Adult: ¥1,000
Students: ¥800 (Please present your student ID)
Isabel Muñoz was born in 1951 in Barcelona, Spain. Since her first solo show Toques (1986), in Madrid, she has emerged as one of the most celebrated of Iberian photographers. She followed up on her early series Tango and Flamenco (1989) with a photographic quest into the human passion and physical beauty in motion seen in Sufi and Ethiopian tribal dancing. She is a recipient of the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. Inspired by her participation in KYOTOGRAPHIE 2017, Isabel Muñoz, in coordination with Festival co-directors Yusuke Nakanishi and Lucille Reyboz, photographed dancer Min Tanaka and master obi weaver Genbei Yamaguchi, 10th-generation head of long-established Kyoto obi and kimono maker Kondoya Genbei, in the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima. Included in this exhibition, in addition to photographic and video works, is what is probably the world’s first “photo textile,” which Muñoz created by making platinum prints of her photographs on Japanese paper, which Kondoya craftsmen then cut into threads and wove together with superfine silk threads.
Min Tanaka
Dancer. Began his own expressive activities in 1974 and evolved “hyper-dance,” emphasizing psycho-physical unity of the body. In 1978, he made his international debut at the Louvre. In the following decade, his avant-garde performances in former communist countries were highly recognized among cultural and intellectual pioneers of the time. Tanaka moved to the countryside in 1985 and has continued his dance activity based on farming to date. Since his first film appearance in 2002, he has continued expanding his scope of activities in moving images nationally and internationally. His documentary film “The Unnameable Dance,” directed by Isshin Inudo, is in theaters beginning January 28, 2022. www.min-tanaka.com
Genbei Yamaguchi
Genbei Yamaguchi was born in Kyoto in 1948. He is the tenth-generation representative of the Kondaya Genbei. Inheriting the high techniques of weaving and dyeing textiles through generations, he also has been challenging innovatively to produce Obi with new sense of values. Active in collaboration across fields, such as with the architect Kengo Kuma, the designer Hiroko Koshino and the fashion brand United Arrows, he pushes the boundaries of traditional crafts. In 2003, Genbei received the Japan Culture Award. He also takes an active role in revitalizing the dyeing and weaving technologies through such measures as the revival of ‘Koishimaru’ - a specific type of silk worm cocoon found in Japan and the preservation of a unique village in the Philippines called ‘Dreamweaver.’
