KOSAKU KANECHIKA is pleased to present “going nowhere,” a solo exhibition by fumiko imano, from September 3 to October 8, 2022.

imano is highly acclaimed for her collaborations in fashion, including handling photography for LOEWE’s publications for eight seasons since 2018 and designing VANS shoes using her own artwork in 2022. Best known are her series of self-portraits taken with a 35mm camera, with theimages cut and pasted to create a ‘twins’ motif. Encapsulating an innocently nostalgic and humorous charm that is reminiscent of photographs that might have been taken during a family trip, imano’s self-portraits elicit an instinctive smile from their viewers. In sharp contrast, the distinct lines which have been cut and joined together by scissors evidently convey the reality of a fictitious nature. Simply created by hand in the current digital age, imano’s photomontages invite a playful yet fresh insight into one’s identity, and an unconventional visual language to convey new stories.

The backgrounds are an important structural element in these stories. Some of imano’s photos are taken at home, but many are shot at various places outside Japan, such as Paris, Singapore, and Los Angeles, and the depictions of the twins are richly nuanced. Never staying in one place, imano is continually traveling in search of something. The viewer also gets the impression of embarking on a journey, invited by imano’s photos, which also serve as a record of this process, and by the twins portrayed in her work.

The setting for the works in this show, the artist’s third solo exhibition at KOSAKU KANECHIKA, is Iceland, a place imano had wanted to return to since visiting the country as a student in London in the late 1990s. She states, “It’s like a travel log of fumiko imano, who found herself a little stuck in 2021 when the COVID-19 virus was raging, and, wanting to be somewhere that felt like the middle of nowhere, she suddenly decided to get up and go.” The twins visit various places, including places encountered twenty-two years ago as well as places seen for the first time, such as glaciers and a hotel full of works by Icelandic artists.

imano provided the following statement about these travels.
　
going nowhere

when i felt that
i just wanted to go to the
middle of nowhere

iceland

came to my mind
the land where
no common plants grow
but somehow
modern life and technology are growing

with the memory of a student trip
of
the cheapest hot dog
and
mystic blue lagoon
in the end of 90s

i headed there

tourism has grown
and it became a more chaotic
country
but
it hasn’t changed
22 years later

there was nothing
but was something

I believe

there must be witches and fairies that exist
i could feel this time
maybe i am one of them

going nowhere
going now here
going now where

sometimes
i feel like im
going nowhere
but
im existing here
and im located somewhere

during this trip
in a cold rain and strong wind hitting me
there was a moment that
felt like
a strict training

maybe
wherever i go
i cant change myself easily
a bit like a laptop computer or a mobile phone
thats just physically moving around the world
i might crash or no longer be used one day but
unlike these machines
i cant replace my body

and
loneliness follows me everywhere

but
i feel like
finally
i started to enjoy these moments
　
This show presents thirty-five or so works, and is the first consisting exclusively of new works.

fumiko imano

Born in 1974, fumiko imano lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from ages two to eight. She then went on to study fine arts at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, and fashion styling and photography at the London College of Fashion. Continuing to publish her works in exhibitions and magazines both domestically and internationally, imano has released a number of works including “We Oui!” (Little Big Man Books, 2017). Since 2018, imano has collaborated with LOEWE for eight consecutive seasons. In 2022, she designed a pair of shoes in a collaboration with VANS. This exhibition will be the artist’s third solo exhibition at KOSAKU KANECHIKA following her 2019 and 2020 exhibitions.