Sharon Gershoni has photographed Israeli landscapes which are not grandiose nor rich, which just exist as they are simple, plain and dry. By applying a special developing technique, she raises every detail and all the light and shade to the surface like sculpting. Thus thousands of elements of life and time that human eye can never catch are etched in her work. By stemming time, we could come to a stand still, could look deeply into "a little drama of life". Her work is silently telling us, that even a small stone lying around could be a metaphor for all the beauty in this world.

She has expressed the landscape as a still life in her former work. It is a delicate ripplet on a lotus pond - drawn by a small bug, that she absorbs a motion on her photograph for the first time in Japan. The surface reflects the real world like a mirror and masks the real world that also exists beneath the water. Each is divided into the world of a visible light and an invisible darkness, however both are reality. She puts a focus not onto a large gorgeous outblooming flower but onto every real-image and illusion, and every drama of life which exists there. For her, the lotus; which has been revered in all countries as a holy flower or as a symbolic beauty, is one hope having no answer, floating just between the real world and the imaginary world, and eliciting invisible things into the real world like a gate.

Today the world is threatened by repeated conflicts, how should human take a pause, feel, and how should we find hope ?

20 pieces of pictures of grasslands and desert in Israel, and a lotus pond in Japan are exhibited.

In Yun Nan province in China, where shares borders with Tibet, India and Myanmar, there are many kinds of ethnic minorities that have nurtured their own original folkways, culture and religion. Naxi tribe is one of those minorities and living in Li Jiang prefecture where ruled by magnificent nature.

Jinsha Jing River threads its way through mountains. Yu Luon Xue Shan Mountain, wrapped in a dense fog, stretches to Himalayan Mountains. Sheer cliffs command a view of Yangzu Jiang River below.

The world consisted of that illusory landscape brought their original life philosophy to Naxi tribe. A man and a woman who met their beloved partner, indicated by fate, join hands together and give their bodies back to nature. Both of two believes that their spirits will reach to the another world, neither heaven nor hell.

Tompa Characters

The priest of Naxi tribe's primitive religion, Tompa religion, is called Tompa. Tompa uses Tompa characters to write their scriptures. Tompa religion was established in the seven century and the character also was born in the ten century. Mysterious Tompa character is not changed for over 1000 years. The main feature of Tompa character is using artistic pictographic characters. The order of characters goes from left to right, and also placed above and below. On the characters, the personality of writer is reflected. And the interpretation of the texts are slightly changed depending on readers. Tompa character is very tolerant and can accept the changes that results from the difference of artistic taste, sensibility, religious values and sophistication.

starring

LOTO BOMBA
percussion
sat. 12 Oct. / sat. 9 Nov.

Sanyo Kanda
storytelling
wed. 16 Oct.

Ekaterina Korobova
Russian Folk Song
Thu. 24 Oct. / Thu. 7 Nov.

TENKU [Gyoten+Hana]
Didjeridu, Calimba (African instrument), Chinese Fiddle & Percussion
Mon. 4 Nov.

Kazue Tajima
Shinto Fiddle
Wed. 6 Nov.

Karah & tsune
Gender (Bali instrument) + Vocal
Sun. 10 Nov.

Kakushin Tomoyoshi
hanaichikan vol.3 autumn
SATSUMA Lute concert & lecture
Thu 14/ Sat 16 Nov.

This is a documentary film on a Japanese hip hop musician grown up in Tanzania, London, and Berkeley California. While most of the younger generation in Japan seem to be away from the issues of world peace and their nation, he thinks earnestly about them and his own identity, which attracted me very much and led me to trace the world of his lyrics. Through this film, people will encounter "a new type of Japanese.

Director/Producer Atsushi "UCCI" Uchino