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Shingo Kanagawa "Prayer / Nagasaki"
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Shingo Kanagawa
The images showcased in this exhibition revolve around the Nagasaki Peace Park and the Peace Memorial Statue, which stands at its center. Historically, Nagasaki harbored ‘hidden Christian’ communities throughout the Tokugawa shogunate’s ban on Christianity from the early 1600s to the mid-19th century. Kanagawa’s images capture commonly observed subjects in the vicinity, such as statues of the Virgin Mary and Christ, Catholics engaging in prayer before home alters, and individuals, buildings, or places that have some sort of connection to the Christian faith. Amongst these images, Kanagawa intersperses self-portraits.
In 2013, Kanagawa was baptized in a Lutheran church in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo. Regarding this, he says the following, “Faith is not something that can easily be separated into believing or not believing; faith is a matter of trying to believe or wanting to believe, which is to say that not believing is also included in what it means to have faith.”
Regardless of this not-believing aspect of his faith, Kanagawa decided to be baptized because he felt that “prayer was good for (him).” He explains, “I felt that the essence of prayer lay not in the certainty of the existence of God to whom we direct our thoughts and words, but I felt that the essence of prayer lay in the act of directing our thoughts and words itself. Of course, it would be an overstatement to say that this act alone will bring into existence that object of attention, but the reality of that existence manifests over time.”
At the suggestion of sculptor and critic Nodoka Odawara, in 2015, Kanagawa began to visit and photograph Nagasaki. Odawara was Kanagawa’s classmate at the graduate school at the Tokyo University of Arts and has researched and authored essays examining the historical context surrounding Nagasaki’s atomic bomb-related sculptures. At first, Kanagawa’s camera focused on subjects that represented Nagasaki’s Christian culture due to his faith, but he became increasingly drawn to the Peace Memorial Statue as an icon for prayer. While critical of the historical background of the statue’s origins, Kanagawa is attracted to the emptiness of the statue’s colossal and excessively muscular physique and its heterogeneous nature, which stems from its attempts to avoid adherence to any particular religion, and he states, “Personally, I like the statue.” He also acknowledges issues related to masculinity, which he himself is implicated in.
While Nagasaki is often referred to as “Nagasaki of Prayer,” in this exhibition "Prayer｜Nagasaki," Kanagawa employs his own body and faith as a medium, endeavoring to create a novel photographic representation of the city.
In 2013, Kanagawa was baptized in a Lutheran church in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo. Regarding this, he says the following, “Faith is not something that can easily be separated into believing or not believing; faith is a matter of trying to believe or wanting to believe, which is to say that not believing is also included in what it means to have faith.”
Regardless of this not-believing aspect of his faith, Kanagawa decided to be baptized because he felt that “prayer was good for (him).” He explains, “I felt that the essence of prayer lay not in the certainty of the existence of God to whom we direct our thoughts and words, but I felt that the essence of prayer lay in the act of directing our thoughts and words itself. Of course, it would be an overstatement to say that this act alone will bring into existence that object of attention, but the reality of that existence manifests over time.”
At the suggestion of sculptor and critic Nodoka Odawara, in 2015, Kanagawa began to visit and photograph Nagasaki. Odawara was Kanagawa’s classmate at the graduate school at the Tokyo University of Arts and has researched and authored essays examining the historical context surrounding Nagasaki’s atomic bomb-related sculptures. At first, Kanagawa’s camera focused on subjects that represented Nagasaki’s Christian culture due to his faith, but he became increasingly drawn to the Peace Memorial Statue as an icon for prayer. While critical of the historical background of the statue’s origins, Kanagawa is attracted to the emptiness of the statue’s colossal and excessively muscular physique and its heterogeneous nature, which stems from its attempts to avoid adherence to any particular religion, and he states, “Personally, I like the statue.” He also acknowledges issues related to masculinity, which he himself is implicated in.
While Nagasaki is often referred to as “Nagasaki of Prayer,” in this exhibition "Prayer｜Nagasaki," Kanagawa employs his own body and faith as a medium, endeavoring to create a novel photographic representation of the city.
Schedule | May 11 (Sat) 2024-Jun 2 (Sun) 2024 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://mem-inc.jp/2024/04/20/kanagawa2024_e/ | ||||
| Venue | MEM http://mem-inc.jp/index_e | ||||
| Location | NADiff A/P/A/R/T 3F, 1-18-4 Ebisu Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0013 | ||||
| Access | 6 minute walk from the East exit of Ebisu Station on the JR Yamanote and Saikyo lines. 7 minute walk from exit 1 at Ebisu Station on the Hibiya line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6459-3205 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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