Paradise 101
Paradise 101
Paradise 101
Paradise 101
Paradise 101
Paradise 101
Paradise 101

Paradise 101

The exhibition Paradise 101 sums up 29 years of photographing and filming Japan by one artist - Wojtek Wieteska. The time frame of the project corresponds with a specific period in Japanese history: the Heisei era, which falls during the reign of Emperor Akihito. In April 2019, for the first time in 200 years, the emperor stepped down from the throne to give power to his son, Naruhito. The prince's coronation in May 2019 officially began a new era: Reiwa. The artist specifically traveled to Japan during this period to record this symbolic transition of time and thus close the work on a project begun in 1991. While photographing Japan, in the dichotomy between the individual and the mass, in the fusion of ancient rituals and modern behavior, I find a timeless form that protects human life from disorder. Paradise 101 consists of large format photographs and film shots arranged as an installation in the gallery space. The artist juxtaposes photographs from different years and maintained in several conventions: he combines color frames with black and white ones, landscapes with portraits, and characteristic elements of Japanese culture are composed next to abstract frames unrelated to any particular civilization. The precisely composed universe of subtle associations and understatements is a space for reflection on the power of photographic image and contemporary Japanese culture and lifestyle.

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