Installation view of Kosuke Arakawa "AFRO-BRAZIL"
Born and raised in Kyoto, photographer Kosuke Arakawa travels between Japan and Brazil to cultivate his own identity and get a sense of being alive.Brazil is a land of indigenous people, and also one where African people were brought against their will to work as slaves.Later, it became a country to which immigrants streamed from all over the world.Brazil, a country of intermingling religions, customs, and people.In the shadows of Brazil’s new identity, one brighter than sunlight, Arakawa felt a strong, vibrant energy with his body and soul.
The source of this energy, discovered by Arakawa through the art of capoeira, lies in the African soul that is deeply embedded into Brazil.It is personified through the Afro-Brazilian people who actively include ‘Africa’ as part of their identity.How do people create identities based on what has been communicated? What are they going to communicate themselves?And what is Arakawa going to communicate himself?This exhibition takes place as he continues to project himself onto the trajectory of his many journeys between Japan and Brazil.
