“I would like to separate my religion from my photography. However, I have the feeling that there is a similarity between photographing the waves and reciting Buddhist sutras.”
- Syoin Kajii
Syoin Kajii, who lives and works in Japan, is both an artist and a clergyman. Born in Niigata in 1976, Kajii completed his studies in Secret Buddhism at Koyasan University in Mikkyo in 1999. Kajii has been taking photographs since the age of 16 and after his apprenticeship at Koyasan (Mt. Koya), from 1995 to 1999, he began his photographic journey around the world: Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Papa New Guinea and England. Since becoming a monk of the Singon religious community on the island of Sado, Kajii has also worked professionally as a photographic artist. In 2004, he won the first FOIL Award for his series of waves on the coast of Sado. As a result, Kajii published his first book, Nami, for which he won the Rookie of the Year 2005 Award from the Photographic Society of Japan. In 2010, he published his second book, KAWA (River), featuring breathtaking images of rivers taken during his extensive travels, among other things. His latest work, TSUKI (moon/month), was created in 2011 at the same time as his video of the same name, which he created for the exhibition Mystik: Die Sehnsucht nach dem Absoluten at Museum Rietberg.
Education
1999
BA Mikkyo (Esoteric Buddhism), Koyasan University, Koyasan, Japan
Solo Exhibitions
2012
Water and Land, Niigita Art Festival (Japan)
HARBIN 2009-2012
Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama (Japan)
FOIL Gallery, Tokyo (Japan)
2011
Tsuki
Christophe Guye Galerie at Ditting Raum Zurich (Switzerland)
2009
Shikamura
Tohoku University of Art and Design, Yamagata (Japan)
2008
NAMI
Niitsu Art Forum, Niigata (Japan)
Marginal Village
FOIL GALLERY, Tokyo (Japan)
2006
NAMI
epSITE, Tokyo (Japan)
2005
NAMI
The Art & Natural History Museum of SADO, Niigata (Japan)
2004
1st FOIL Award winners exhibition
"NAMI" Little More Gallery, Tokyo (Japan)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012
ACQUA, Paris photo, Paris (France)
2011
Mysticism – The Longing for the Absolute
Museum Rietberg, Zurich (Switzerland)
2010
Inaugural Exhibition
Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich (Switzerland)
2008
Water in Photography
Huis Marseille stichting voor fotografie, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Oasis
Gana Art Busan, Busan (South Korea)
2007
Spitting image
V1 Gallery, Copenhagen (Denmark)
FOIL vol.1Co-exist
FOIL Gallery, Tokyo (Japan)
"Views of Water: From Monet and Taikan to the Present"
Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama (Japan)
2006
Whisper Not!
Huis Marseille stichting voor fotografie, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Whisper not!
Huis Mareille, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
2005
Landscape
Gana Art Center, Seoul (South Korea)
The month of Photography, Tokyo (Japan)
Fuji Photo Salon, Tokyo (Japan)
Publications
2012
HARBIN 2009-2012
Foil Gallery
2010
KAWA
Foil Gallery
2008
Marginal Village
Foil Gallery
2005
The Photographic Society of Japan
The Rookie of the Year Award
2004
NAMI
Little More
Awards
2009
20th the Rookie of the Year by Gotoh Memorial Foundation
2005
The Photographic Society of Japan, the Rookie of the Year award
2004
1st FOIL Award
Collections
Huis Marseille, Amsterdam
