The Kyotographie international photography festival, Japan's premier event for international photography, returns for its 2025 edition under the theme "Edge." Held annually since 2013, the festival presents 14 main exhibitions that explore this broad yet evocative concept, offering curatorial freedom while maintaining a sense of tension.
Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective
More than 200 images, 400 magazines, and 100 books fill the walls and tables of Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective at the Kyocera Museum of Art. Yet, this extensive collection only scratches the surface of Moriyama's prolific career. Born in 1938, Moriyama was part of a groundbreaking postwar generation known for are-bure-boke (rough, blurred, out-of-focus) photography. He constantly questioned photography's meaning and application. Now in his 80s, he continues to photograph daily and publishes Record magazine.
Early in his career, Moriyama shifted from Western social documentary to expression-driven imagery. In 1960s Japan, US influence persisted through military bases and Western culture. Moriyama used his camera to navigate this transitional period, exploring popular culture and political unrest to create dark, atmospheric images. A standout project from 1969 for Asahi Camera magazine questioned news media. In January, he examined Robert Kennedy's assassination by photographing a TV screen and photocopying newspapers. For April, he used a telephoto lens to capture unsuspecting subjects, producing film-noir images that eerily foreshadow modern surveillance.
Linder Sterling: Feminist Photomontages
Linder Sterling's work also originates from magazine culture. During Manchester's punk era, she created fanzines as a radical, low-cost way to showcase her art. She cut out women's bodies from fashion, DIY, and pornographic magazines, collaging them with household objects using surgical scalpels. These provocative feminist photomontages challenged mainstream media. Sterling also fronted the post-punk band Ludus and created album art for Buzzcocks' Orgasm Addict, featuring a muscular woman with an iron for a head and mouths on her breasts. Later, she incorporated her own body into photographs, using materials like clingfilm to create living collages. Her exhibition Linder: Goddess of the Mind is at the Museum of Kyoto Annex.
Thandiwe Muriu: African Identity and Empowerment
This year's African artist in residence, Thandiwe Muriu, uses kitenge fabric to explore identity, culture, and female empowerment. Her series Camo is displayed in an old wooden kimono workshop. Women dressed in kitenge stand before patterned backdrops, nearly disappearing. Muriu, who felt invisible when she became one of Kenya's few female advertising photographers, uses hairstyles referencing pre- and post-colonial Africa and surreal glasses made from household items. Her work echoes Linder's collages, with everyday objects covering faces.
Fatma Hassona: The Eye of Gaza
In a dark room lit only by an iPhone, The Eye of Gaza features Fatma Hassona, a young Palestinian photographer in Gaza. Over a year, she spoke with filmmaker Sepideh Farsi in Paris, resulting in the documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. On April 16, 2025, Fatma and nine family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The exhibition, including her war photographs, offers a powerful experience of her resilience and determination. When asked if she would leave, she replied, "My Gaza needs me."
Ernest Cole: House of Bondage
A rare 1969 footage of South African photographer Ernest Cole shows him speaking directly to the camera, exhausted and frustrated, after his book House of Bondage was published. The book documented apartheid's harsh realities and was the first by a Black photographer to depict Black South Africans' experiences. Cole aimed to drive change, but his work largely fell on deaf ears. The exhibition walks through the book's chapters, with additional photographs and notes. Cole later moved to New York, struggled as an exile, abandoned photography, and died homeless from cancer in 1990.
Satellite Events and Festival Details
Alongside the main festival, the satellite KG+ features 164 exhibitions, including a juried show. The winner exhibits in the main festival the following year. Talks, workshops, and a book fair complement the program. Experimental music has spawned its own festival, Kyotophonie, adding to Kyoto's creative energy. The Kyotographie international photography festival runs until May 17.
