PRESS RELEASE

Over the Parched Field
By Akiko Takizawa
18 January – 1 March 2012, Admission free, Monday – Friday, 9.30am-5.00pm
Private View: 6-8pm, 18 January 2012
Introduction by Dr Simon Baker, Curator of
Photography and International Art at the Tate
Gallery

Talk: 6-8pm, 16 February 2012
By the artist and Dr Simon Baker, Curator of
Photography and International Art at the Tate
Gallery
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
13/14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
020-7486-4348
Baker Street

Headland #1, 2007, gelatine silver print © Akiko Takizawa

Akiko Takizawa is a Japanese artist based in London. The exhibition, Over the Parched Field, showcases a selection of
Takizawa’s photographs since 2006, including new works made especially for the exhibition. This is Takizawa’s first solo show inLondon.
Her latest series of photographs were taken in a volcanic mountain area, Osorezan in Aomori, where people go to talk to theirdeceased family members through a medium. Aomori is in the Tohoku area where local people live in a traditional close-knit society
to survive in the severe natural environment. Takizawa grew up in a culture with a blurred border between life and death. Since she
was young, she felt as if she was observing the world through the eyes of a third person. This sense of detachment to her
surroundings adds an intriguing factor to the choice of the motifs in her works. Takizawa says “I feel that my camera acts as anaerial – to detect signals carrying urgent messages”. Some of her images capture the traditional and rapidly disappearing Japanese
attitudes towards families and communities. One can see the distinctive switch to a more positive tone in the atmosphere sheobserves. Takizawa says that Osorezan (which means ‘Fear Mountain’) is one of the few places where her soul feels purely happy,
even though the place sharpens her sense of isolation and solitude.
Takizawa’s exhibition at Daiwa Foundation Japan House is supported by the printing company Benrido. Based in Kyoto, Benrido
has over a hundred years’ experience in the disappearing art of collotype, which requires skilful craftsmanship. The images inTakizawa’s latest series are printed using the technique of collotype, on special Washi (traditional Japanese paper).
Notes for Editors•

Akiko Takizawa was born in Fukuoka in 1971 and completed her MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 2006.
Her interdisciplinary practices involve not only photography but filming and performing art. Her work was selected forBloomberg New Contemporaries in 2006 and the exhibition toured from Liverpool to London. Her work was shortlisted
for the Hitotsubo award, one of the most prestigious photographic competitions in Japan. She was also awarded theUniversity of Abertay Visual Arts Prize (2002), the Dundee Contemporary Arts Print Studio Residency Prize (2002), theLondon Print Studio Award (2002) and the Printmaking Today Award (2000).

•The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a UK charity supporting links between Britain and Japan. It carries out its
work through three main activities: awarding scholarships; giving grants to individuals and institutional partners toencourage UK-Japan collaboration; and organising a series of seminars, book launches and exhibitions at the Foundation’s
headquarters in central London. The Foundation has provided substantial support for the arts in both countries since its
inception, supporting exhibitions, artist-in-residence schemes, tours, education programmes and the Daiwa Foundation ArtPrize. www.dajf.org.uk•Booking information: exhibition-related events are free but booking is essential. Please book a place throughhttp://www.dajf.org.uk/events/booking-form
For further press information or images please contact: Shihoko Ogawa, email: events@dajf.org.uk.

Daiwa Foundation Japan House
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
Tel: 020 7486 4348
www.dajf.org.uk
Baker Street