2023.2.22ー3.26

BEHIND THE MASK - One-hundred haiku by CHRIS MOSDELL (haiku) + RYO OHWADA (photography)

This exhibition commemorates the publication of the book “BEHIND THE MASK – One-hundred Haiku” by Chris Mosdell and Ryo Ohwada.

In their collaborative work, British poet Chris Mosdell and Japanese photographer Ryo Ohwada explore the ‘omote’ (the public face) and the ‘ura’ (the private face) of Japan in haiku and photography.

In image and word, the series expresses lyrical sentiments about the natural and urban beauty of Japan, filtered through the experiences and sensibilities of two exceptional artists.

This exhibition at DELTA features works selected by the artists and constitutes the first public presentation of the series.

 

▍Chris Mosdell (Haiku)

Chris Mosdell (lyricist and poet) is the winner of the Yuki Hayashi-Newkirk Poetry Prize, the Tokyo Music Festival’s Gold Prize, and the Grand Prize for Poetry at the Boulder, Colorado, Festival of Literature. His lyrics have been recorded by Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Sarah Brightman, Boy George, Ryuichi Sakamoto and YMO amongst others, and included in the anime soundtracks to Gundam, Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop. His publications include “Splatterhead: The Songlines of Chris Mosdell”, “City of Song: The Incendiary Arias”, “The Kantocles: Songs from the Atomic Aisles”, “The City that Silk Built” and “The Radicals: A Nation’s Ideogrammic Anthems”.

https://chrismosdell.com/

 

▍Ryo Ohwada (Photography)

Photographer Ryo Ohwada was born in 1978 in Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from the Department of Photography and the Graduate School of Arts at Tokyo Polytechnic University. His initial breakthrough work was exhibited at “reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow” at the Musée de l’Elysée in Switzerland in 2005 and he was awarded the “Newcomer’s Award” by the Photographic Society of Japan in 2011. He has unveiled extensive exhibitions of his photography in and outside Japan, with published works that include “Prism” (Seigensha), “Kusamura Honzo” (Kesa Publishing), “FORM” (Shinsui Sha) and “R” (Kesa Publishing). 

http://www.ryoohwada.com/