The Asia Center, University of the Philippines Diliman, supported by The Japan Foundation, Manila, presents the photo exhibition Kami No Miya: Shrines of the Gods by the Japanese photographer Yukihito Masuura, opening on September 18 at the Hall of Wisdom of GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center. The photographs, all 37 of them, will be on view until October 30, 2015.
Kami No Miya features Masuura’s photographs of ceremonial practices in two of Japan’s most revered Shinto Shrines – Ise Jingu and Izumo Taisha – in 2013. The images explore the relationship between religion and art, and skillfully capture the “divine essence” of the Senzasai rituals. Shinto, the traditional religion of Japan, revolves on the worship of spirits in nature.
The exhibition also introduces some of Masuura’s photographs of select sculptures of Michaelangelo, Rodin, and Bourdelle. “The art of sculpture photography is to let the sculpture speak,” shares the artist. “My photography made Bourdelle’s works move and Rodin’s spin.”
Masuura first became enchanted by photography at the age of 12. Born in Tokyo in 1963, he moved to France when he was 18, and became an assistant to Guy Bourdin for Vogue Paris. In his quest for creative and spiritual perfection, he was drawn to Buddhist sculpture and masterworks of Western artists.
The artist will be present at the opening day for a panel discussion together with the Representative Director of Kami No Miya Kyodotai, and Professor Jose Alberto C. Tañedo of the UP College of Fine Arts, who is also the chairperson of the National Committee on Visual Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. The panel will explore the significance of the photographs, focusing on how they capture Masuura’s notion of an “Invisible World.”
The photographs will be housed at the ASEAN, Japan, and China Halls of the Hall of Wisdom, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. For more information, please contact Louise Sanchez at 920-3535 or 981-8500 local 3580, or via email: upacmuseum@gmail.com.