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All About Photo presents ZAIDO by Yukari Chikura
sandrine hermand-grisel
Oct 1, 2020
Part of the exclusive online showroom developed by All About Photo, this exhibition is on view for the entire month of October 2020 and includes twenty photographs from the project published this year by Steidl.
This project is Yukari Chikura’s preservation of the 1300-year-old Japanese ritual festivity “Zaido.” Following a series of tragedies, including her father’s sudden death, her own critical accident, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Chikura recalls how her father came to her in a dream with the words: “Go to the village hidden deep in the snow where I lived a long time ago.” And so with a camera in hand, she set off on a restorative pilgrimage to northeast Japan (the first of numerous journeys), which resulted in the creation of her book.
Chikura arrived at the village, surreally silver in the snow and mist, and there discovered Zaido, where inhabitants from different villages
gather on the second day of each new year and conduct a ritual dance to induce good fortune. The performers dedicate their sacred dance to the gods and undergo severe purifications. Combining photographs of snowscapes that border on abstraction with images of the intricate masks and costumes of Zaido, Chikura depicts the cultural diversity of the participants as well as their common bond in creating collective memory and ensuring the survival of this ritual.
In this moment of great uncertainty and turmoil, these online Solo Exhibitions aim to continue to connect audiences and artists, building on our beliefs that access to art and culture is a right and not a privilege and that artists’ voices should be heard. It is a platform to help photographers pursue their visions, their dreams and their projects.
With our new online showroom space, we’ve placed All About Photo’s role as a supporter and amplifier of creative ideas.
Yukari Chikura - Zaido
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