GoSee Tip : ‘Tokyo Is Yours’ by Meg Hewitt at the CHAUSSEE 36 PHOTO FOUNDATION in Berlin
Berlin’s CHAUSSEE 36 Photo Foundation presents ‘Tokyo Is Yours’ – the first exhibition by Australian photographer Meg Hewitt in Germany (18.11.2023 – 27.01.2024).
‘Tokyo is Yours’ is a black & white series created in Tokyo between 2015 and 2017. Of particular interest to Meg Hewitt is life on the streets of Tokyo. The scenes have cinematic qualities. People meet, odd situations arise and disappear just as quickly. Meg Hewitt, born 1973 in Sydney, studied sculpture, painting and media. Since 2010, she has devoted her life to photography.
The cycle shows Hewitt’s deep reflection on Japan, and particularly, the uncertainties and fragility after the catastrophe in Fukushima. The ecological disaster of 2011 almost led to the evacuation of Tokyo, a city with more than thirteen million inhabitants. The title ‘Tokyo Is Yours’ was taken from graffiti written on a city wall.
Meg travelled to Japan seven times between 2015 and 2017. Each day, she would walk around town for twelve hours at a time, going on strolls through parks, stopping by bars at night or the zoo… and even traveling to Fukushima or visiting the waterfront. She captured the small details that spontaneously caught her attention and portrayed the locals she encountered. The fact that she can neither speak or read Japanese, nor understand conversations, gave her a feeling of absolute freedom and creativity. The people she met and the scenes she experienced were thus transformed into symbols, archetypes and metaphors.
With her photos, Meg Hewitt explores the space between things, memories, interhuman relationships and fear. She often photographs at night with flash, which enables her to isolate her subject from any context. The silver film used accentuates the contrasts of the black tones when the film is developed. As a result of their unique aesthetic, the photographs appear as if the surrounding space were closing in, inducing a feeling of psychological pressure. Photographer Daido Moriyama, whom Meg Hewitt credits as a source of inspiration, describes her photos as ‘dangerous’.
Meg Hewitt was chosen as the finalist for the Australian Doug Moran National Portrait Prize for contemporary photography, the Head On Award, the Lensculture Street Photography Awards, the Maggie Diaz Photography Prize for Women as well as a silver medal from des Prix de la Photographie, Paris, in 2016 and a medal at the Tokyo International Foto Competition in 2018.
Book Tip : Her book ‘Tokyo Is Yours’ (first Edition 2017, Nayana Press Denmark) contains 68 photographs. And on the photographer’s website, the book is also available with an A5 edition.
The exhibition was curated by Anne Clergue and organized in cooperation with Galerie Anne Clergue in Arles, France.
CHAUSSEE 36 PHOTO FOUNDATION
Chausseestraße 36, 10115 Berlin
www.chaussee36.photography
Wednesday – Saturday, 1pm – 6pm | Admission: free
Contact: Nadine Dinter PR www.dinter-pr.de
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