a faraway shining star, twinkling in hand

Rinko Kawauchi is one of the most established artists in Japan and known worldwide for her dreamy, poetic and unique imagery. The new exhibition "a faraway shining star, twinkling in hand" features artist’s two most recent series, M/E and An interlinking. These works include everything from photographs to video art, light boxes and photo sculptures.

The M/E series is a tribute to “Mother Earth”, with photos of grand natural phenomena from Kawauchi’s trip to Iceland in 2019. She planned to return to the country to finish the series but was forced to remain in Japan when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. This led to completing the second part of the series with photos from her everyday life and from winter in Hokkaido, Japan.

In the ongoing An interlinking series, Kawauchi has depicted her everyday life for 20 years, often with her daughter as her subject. Taking both a micro and macro perspective has become significant for Kawauchi’s artistry, an approach that becomes particularly apparent in the contrast of these two series: small everyday situations in the face of grand natural phenomena. The letters M/E can also be read as “me” and refer to the connection between the small individual and the massive “Mother Earth”.

This exhibition is curated by Jessica Jarl, Global Director of Exhibitions, Fotografiska and Maarja Loorents, co-founder and exhibitions director at Fotografiska Tallinn, in collaboration with the artist.