HAROLD DAVID
artist's profile
American born photographer Harold David is one of Australia’s premier fashion and portraiture photographers. He has worked extensively with some of Australia’s leading magazines. Harold David’s photographic art frequently collapse the orthodoxies of fashion photography and political photo-documentation to valorise the seemingly ‘unglamorous’ and give ‘sheen’ to the utilitarian and mundane. Never patronising, David’s aesthetic democracy explores matters of class, gender, economic position – and beauty.
Uniform: Japan Photos by Harold David presents large format photographic portraits of Japanese workers (and their uniforms - an intriguing synergy of community engagement, social history and contemporary art. Taken during residencies in Japan in 2008 and 2009 David’s joyous colour portraits celebrate ‘working people’ and their ‘uniforms’. With humour and affection David cleverly combines the glamour of fashion photography with deadpan photo-reportage to valorise that which is usually considered ‘unglamorous’, and to give ‘sheen’ to the seemingly utilitarian and mundane.
YANN AUDIC
artist's profile
"As a French kid, I was raised on Japanese animations which were broadcast daily on French TV; and so for a long time I thought that Tokyo was a cyber-punk post apocalyptic town. You see, watching Ken the Survivor or the famous Akira (released in 1988), when you are a little boy, it is quite traumatising and gives one a very distinct impression of Japan.
"As a French kid, I was raised on Japanese animations which were broadcast daily on French TV; and so for a long time I thought that Tokyo was a cyber-punk post apocalyptic town. You see, watching Ken the Survivor or the famous Akira (released in 1988), when you are a little boy, it is quite traumatising and gives one a very distinct impression of Japan.
All this was a far cry from the cherry blossom or pretty garden story. When I went there for the first time last year, I brought my childish relationship to Japan with me. Both my expectation and experience of Japan inspired me to create "Hachijyunendai"; bright colours, with high-speed characters. Creating the 'pano-graphy' of "The Loop Bridge" that floats over Tokyo Harbour brought me back to Akira with its aerial highway and overpowered night rides.
Indeed, it has also been quite a surprise to discover Japan, and even Tokyo, is actually a very quiet place, very 'smooth', at least by my Parisian standard. I felt this sense of quietness in numerous street characters and the movement of the crowd. This same "smoothness" was in the landscape; the people and their environment seemed to mirror each other. In Japan there is a real symbiotic and even amniotic relationship between the two as played out in Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke where the main character appears almost a part of the forest and vice versa. I have tried to capture this relationship in the different dyptiques."
MICHELLE YOUNG
artist's profile
"I've always had a passion for the orient, especially all things Japanese. So my husband + I finally managed to visit a few years back and spent 6 weeks travelling around the country. This is where I truly fell in love with Japan, their culture and its people. We have been back 2 more times since and hoping to go back again this year. What inspires me about Japanese culture is the respect and integrity that is part of the Japanese psyche. I also love and am inspired by their rich and tragic history and all their beautiful traditions, clothing, ceramics, food and the arts. Truly, I am inspired by ALL things Japanese!!!"
"I've always had a passion for the orient, especially all things Japanese. So my husband + I finally managed to visit a few years back and spent 6 weeks travelling around the country. This is where I truly fell in love with Japan, their culture and its people. We have been back 2 more times since and hoping to go back again this year. What inspires me about Japanese culture is the respect and integrity that is part of the Japanese psyche. I also love and am inspired by their rich and tragic history and all their beautiful traditions, clothing, ceramics, food and the arts. Truly, I am inspired by ALL things Japanese!!!"
ANDREW YOUNG
artist's profile
"Our first visit to Japan was all it took to fall in love with the place. Initially travelling over for the snow my wife and I quickly realised what a magical place it is...the snow being not too shabby either! Travelling around the main islands via bullet train, getting off the beaten track and immersing ourselves into the Japanese culture was an amazing experience. From the hectic bustling cities, the breathtaking country side and most importantly the people and culture, it is truly a magical place, our second home."
"Our first visit to Japan was all it took to fall in love with the place. Initially travelling over for the snow my wife and I quickly realised what a magical place it is...the snow being not too shabby either! Travelling around the main islands via bullet train, getting off the beaten track and immersing ourselves into the Japanese culture was an amazing experience. From the hectic bustling cities, the breathtaking country side and most importantly the people and culture, it is truly a magical place, our second home."
KYOKO HASHIMOTO
artist's profile
"I was a quintessential Japanese child until the age of 10, when my parents decided to migrate to Australia. My background culture continues to inform and influence my creative responses. My parents are Japanese ceramicists and my exposure to traditional crafts scene has never really ceased even though I was geographically removed from Japan. Personally, I find the modern "J culture" very stimulating. The often weird and wacky Japanese manga cartoons I grew up watching continues to influence my designs and my dreams."
"I was a quintessential Japanese child until the age of 10, when my parents decided to migrate to Australia. My background culture continues to inform and influence my creative responses. My parents are Japanese ceramicists and my exposure to traditional crafts scene has never really ceased even though I was geographically removed from Japan. Personally, I find the modern "J culture" very stimulating. The often weird and wacky Japanese manga cartoons I grew up watching continues to influence my designs and my dreams."
NICK FOGARTY
artist's profile
"As soon as I feel like I have a grasp on the culture of Japan I am always surprised. It is for that reason alone I will keep going back there. The people will continue to inspire me to take out the camera."
"As soon as I feel like I have a grasp on the culture of Japan I am always surprised. It is for that reason alone I will keep going back there. The people will continue to inspire me to take out the camera."
KIM NGUYEN NGOC
artist's profile
I am fascinated by the singularity of Japanese culture. One of its vibrant energy is the very successful understanding and assimilation of Modernity and Globalisation. Japan has succeeded to digest Modernity into its Traditional society, so much that it has become one of the most creative cultural influence in the world of design and technology. It is something unique and very inspiring for the rest of the World, especially contemporary Asia.
We can see this synthesis with Tokyo, a Middle Age urban fabric fully integrating the Depato system (Department Store/Mega-Train Station), to form an atomised city of many CBDs amongst a sea of residential leafy low rise, narrow pedestrian friendly streets. This dialog between modernity and tradition runs all along Japanese community and its cosmopolitan life . Thus we can only admire the Japanese for their sense of solidarity in time of ecological urban catastrophy.
This deep respect drives me to admire without reserve the works of Akira Yamaguchi, Noriko Ambe, but as well the great classical masters, Mori Sosen, and Ogata Korin. These 2 pictures are explorations of this symbiotic relationship between the traditional and the modernity.
I am fascinated by the singularity of Japanese culture. One of its vibrant energy is the very successful understanding and assimilation of Modernity and Globalisation. Japan has succeeded to digest Modernity into its Traditional society, so much that it has become one of the most creative cultural influence in the world of design and technology. It is something unique and very inspiring for the rest of the World, especially contemporary Asia.
We can see this synthesis with Tokyo, a Middle Age urban fabric fully integrating the Depato system (Department Store/Mega-Train Station), to form an atomised city of many CBDs amongst a sea of residential leafy low rise, narrow pedestrian friendly streets. This dialog between modernity and tradition runs all along Japanese community and its cosmopolitan life . Thus we can only admire the Japanese for their sense of solidarity in time of ecological urban catastrophy.
This deep respect drives me to admire without reserve the works of Akira Yamaguchi, Noriko Ambe, but as well the great classical masters, Mori Sosen, and Ogata Korin. These 2 pictures are explorations of this symbiotic relationship between the traditional and the modernity.
NICOLE CHOJECKA
artist's profile
"I am a designer with a great fondness for all things Japanese. My connection with Japan dates back to my experience as a teenager on a high school exchange program. Having spent a year in a small town near Kobe only one year after the great Hanshin earthquake I witnessed the stoic resilience of those left homeless by the disaster first hand. Two memories stand out from this time. First is the the still chaotic street-scape of Kobe-crooked buildings and uneven, cracked pavement. Second, the impeccably clean and ordered rows of temporary shelters. This quiet determination to create order out of chaos, or perhaps to accept chaos and create a space of order within it inspires me about japanese culture. As a designer I also appreciates the fastidious attention to detail that is valued by the Japanese people."
"I am a designer with a great fondness for all things Japanese. My connection with Japan dates back to my experience as a teenager on a high school exchange program. Having spent a year in a small town near Kobe only one year after the great Hanshin earthquake I witnessed the stoic resilience of those left homeless by the disaster first hand. Two memories stand out from this time. First is the the still chaotic street-scape of Kobe-crooked buildings and uneven, cracked pavement. Second, the impeccably clean and ordered rows of temporary shelters. This quiet determination to create order out of chaos, or perhaps to accept chaos and create a space of order within it inspires me about japanese culture. As a designer I also appreciates the fastidious attention to detail that is valued by the Japanese people."
KOICHI TAKADA
artist's profile
Japanese-born, Sydney-based architect Koichi Takada seeks to 'explore the boundaries of perception'.
Japanese-born, Sydney-based architect Koichi Takada seeks to 'explore the boundaries of perception'.
"In our practice, we draw inspiration from nature. We can learn from the processes, structures and life we see in the environment to enhance what we design. Nature teaches us that there is more to architecture than the creation of beautiful forms, it must involve all of our senses; the feeling of a soft breeze, the acoustics in a cave or the ambience of natural light through a tree canopy. These elements we cannot draw, but try to involve in the experience of architecture, particularly over time."
