Seen:
Who: Kaori Inbe インベカヲリ★
Where: Along a wall under the Nakano station platform, Tokyo
When: Until August 30th, 2019
For many years now, Kawori Inbe has steadily been creating a vast collection of work focusing on portraits of young Japanese women. Her subjects are collaborators in each photos- they contact Inbe through her website’s offer for models. Inbe’s photographs are the products of dialogue between the photographer and subject- with the scenarios often imagined by the subject first.
While Inbe has held over twenty exhibitions since 2011 I believe this is the first time she’s shown work outside. The venue is immediately north of Nakano station, along a scuzzy wall under the train platform. The glass cases are typical for Japanese train stations- normally they are used exhibit art by local watercolor or calligraphy clubs. This is the first time I’ve seen a single photographer make use of them like this. Since Inbe is a citizen of this ward, she was able to use them for free. It’s good to see photography out in public like this- particularly work such as hers that shows a surreal world enveloped in odd beauty and tinged with dark humor.
If you’ve been unable to visit one of her shows or have yet to order one of her photobooks, (Check / ) an extensive selection of her (often nsfw) photography can be seen on her website.