On March 10th, a photo exhibition by photographer Yuriko Takagi entitled "Threads of Beauty 1995-2025 - Wearing Time, Wearing the Wind" opened at Bunkamura The Museum.

The exhibition is being held in conjunction with "Shibuya Fashion Week," an urban event that showcases fashion and culture in the city. This will be Takagi's first solo exhibition at a museum in Tokyo, and it will feature approximately 100 works photographed in 12 countries around the world. The exhibition will look back on Takagi's work over a 30-year period, focusing on "human existence" through clothing and attire.

Bunkamura入口の装飾

Takagi was born in Tokyo in 1951. After studying graphic design at Musashino Art University, she studied fashion design at Trent Polytechnic in the UK and worked as a freelance designer in Europe. Later, she transitioned to photography, creating works that explore culture and identity through clothing and the human body.

会場内の展示風景

The exhibition features many images of people wearing traditional ethnic clothing on a daily basis. The person in charge of the exhibition said, "The series mainly focuses on people who continue to wear their traditional clothing in their daily lives, such as ethnic minorities and nomadic peoples. I think that viewers will be able to feel the stories and strength of the land through the photographs."

"An Exhibition Without Paths": Experiencing the Nomadic Sense in a Spatial Space

The exhibition is comprised of eight themes, each group named "Village." The venue was designed by Paris-based architect Tsuyoshi Tane. There is no set route within the exhibition space; visitors are free to wander around and encounter the artworks as they go.

The person in charge explained, "Mr. Tane said he was struck by Mr. Takagi's words that 'if a road is built, the nomadic people will move even further into the interior.' So this time, we deliberately did not set a route and created an exhibition where visitors can view the works in any direction they like."

会場中央にある広くスペースの空いた「広場」

At the center of the venue is a large exhibition space called the "Plaza," where works depicting people living alongside animals such as donkeys, camels, and sheep are gathered. The lighting slowly changes between light and dark, representing the passage of time from morning to night and the shadows of clouds. The entire space creates an atmosphere reminiscent of "a day in the village."

着物を着た姿など、日本で撮影した作品もある

Photographs sewn onto fabric; an exhibition resembling a nomad's tent.

What immediately catches the eye at the venue are the large-format works using fabric as a support. A unique technique is employed in which photographs are printed onto "bamboo washi," a type of paper made from bamboo fibers, and then sewn onto fabric for display.

作品左下には、高木さんが撮影した国と撮影年を記載

"The photographs are mounted on cloth and brought to the venue, where Takagi writes the shooting date and signs them, and finally applies varnish to finish them off. The varnish makes the black color more vibrant and the sharpness stands out," he explains.

各作品は、布を天井から吊り下げ、四隅を石で押さえた三角柱状のかたちで展示。石の位置を動かすことで、三角柱の底辺を広げたり縮めたりと、形状を変えることができる。布製のため、丸めればコンパクトに収納でき、撤収や別会場への移動も容易。展示終了後に設営資材の廃棄物がほとんど出ない点も、高木さんのこだわりだという

Eighty to ninety percent of the exhibition is structured in this format, and the space, filled with works suspended like tents, creates an atmosphere reminiscent of nomadic life. Stone weights are placed at the bottom, allowing the fabric works, standing amidst the landscape, to sway and exude a powerful presence.

高木さんの所有の品々を展示する「発掘エリア」。田根さんの提案でBunkamuraで長く使われてきたアクリルボックスを活用し展示

In one corner of the venue, there is an exhibit that Takagi calls the "excavation area." It displays research materials and artwork from various locations, collaborative works with lacquer artists, lithographs, and more. The display cases are made from repurposed parts of acrylic display boxes that the museum had previously owned.

2005年～2007年に高木さんと山口小夜子が月刊誌「ソトコト」で連載した「蒙古班革命」。写真とインタビューで構成された同連載の校了前の原稿や写真を壁面にコラージュし、会場の装飾として演出している

The walls also feature enlarged versions of articles that Takagi had serialized in the magazine "Sotokoto." Tears were intentionally added to the pages to evoke the image of posters piling up and tearing on a Parisian street corner.

A new video that resonates with the streets of Shibuya

In the final section of the exhibition, the new video "Simultaneous Fashion: SHIBUYA × THE OTHER SIDE" will be premiered. On the right side of the screen are photographs from the "Threads of Beauty" series, which features ethnic costumes from around the world, while on the left side are videos shot in Shibuya around the mid-2000s, creating an intersection of two worlds.

渋谷の若者たちのファッションと、世界各地で撮影した民族衣装をまとった人々を左右で比較しながら構成する動画作品

The person in charge said, "At first glance, they may seem like completely different cultures, but 'dressing up' is an act that is common to both. Takagi believes that they are the same in that they make people feel happy and help them find their own identity through dressing up."

Exposed concrete walls reveal the exhibition room in its "true form."

今回の展示では、これまで隠されていたザ・ミュージアムのコンクリート壁や空調ダクトをあえて露出させ、建物の素の姿を見せている。

会場の壁面はコンクリートがむき出しで、奥には黒く大きなダクトも見える。通常は人目に触れない“裏側”をあえて見せる空間演出も特徴で、ザ・ミュージアムでは初めての試みだという

担当者は「普段は仮設壁で覆われているが、今回はこの空間の歴史も含めて見てもらいたいという考えから、コンクリート壁をそのまま見せる構成にした」と話す。

今回の展示企画をもって、同スペースでの営業を全て終える。見慣れた入口や、吹き抜けの地下広場も記憶に残しておきたい

Bunkamura ザ・ミュージアムは、隣接する東急本店跡地に建設中の新施設への拡大移転を控えており、現在の展示室で行われる展覧会としては同展が最後となる。高木さんの作品とともに、約40年の歴史を持つ展示空間を体感できる貴重な機会ともいえそうだ。

Open from 13:00 to 20:00 (last entry at 19:30). Admission is free. The exhibition runs until March 29th.

Venue

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Editorial Department: Takashi Fujii

Shibuya registrar. In addition to Shibuya of Culture information, seasonal news and topics, it will spell write that feel every day.