Syoin Kajii

NAMI

NAMI is a series of photos of waves around the shores of Sado Island in Japan. The photographer, a young Buddhist monk named Syoin Kajii, watches the water patiently, waiting for a moment of surprise. The photographs are truly stunning. The artist captures the power and dynamism of the ocean and waves, a stark contrast to the tranquil seascapes by Sugimoto. By carefully gauging the speed of the wind and level of the wave, he waits for nature to create the image. These works are close ups, the artist is practically in the water. Syoin Kajil is the winner of the first Foil Award, for which the prize is the publication of NAMI.

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_088 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_088

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_099 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_099

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_018 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_018

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_102 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_102

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI 015-016 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI 015-016

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI 025-026 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI 025-026

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI 060-061 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI 060-061

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI 009-010 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI 009-010

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK07 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK07

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK05 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK05

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK06 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK06

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK04 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK04

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK02 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK02

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK03 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK03

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): NAMI_HK01 – Christophe Guye Galerie — NAMI_HK01

KAWA

Buddhist monk Kajii made his name with the award-winning work NAMI – Waves – in 2004; the following year he was named Newcomer of the Year by the Photography Society of Japan. KAWA, a book and exhibition at Tokyo's Foil gallery, sees Kajii turn his hypnotic attention to rivers. Every page of this lucid, crystalline series is awe-inspiring. Ultra-real close-ups of splashes, their droplets like pearls; frozen rocks and plants on riverbanks; shimmering surfaces of rivers in rain; the kinetic energy of underwater waves and fish; night-time lights like electric charges, shooting across dark water. With the variety and simplicity of these astonishing images, Kajii has achieved his stated aim of making the act of photography akin to the chanting of a sutra.

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 065-066 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 065-066

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 087-088 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 087-088

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 021-022 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 021-022

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 045-046 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 045-046

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 051-052 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 051-052

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 097-098 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 097-098

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA 049-050 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA 049-050

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_105_106 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_105_106

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_099_100 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_099_100

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_077_078 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_077_078

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_085_086 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_085_086

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_053_054 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_053_054

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_039_040 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_039_040

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_043_044 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_043_044

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_011_012 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_011_012

Syoin KAJII (*1976, Japan): KAWA_013_014 – Christophe Guye Galerie — KAWA_013_014

TSUKI

TSUKI, made of both photographic images as well as the artist’s first video work, which he made especially for the Rietberg’s museum show Mysticism – The Longing for the Absolute in Zurich, Switzerland. Rather than focusing on art, aesthetic and iconography, Mysticism engages with spiritual experience, displaying the diversity of mysticism that spans from Europe to Iran, India and the Far East. Kajii was inspired for his latest works by the Soto school of Zen, a Buddhist school founded by the Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher Dogen. With these works the artist present us with visuals that are calm yet restless at once, portraying the moon’s light in the Japanese sea as simultaneously unnerving and still. Symbolic and accidental alike, specks of light lightly dance on the water’s dark surface, inviting the viewer to absorb and engage with the Soto pursuit of ‘unity of practice and enlightenment’.