MEM is pleased to announce an exhibition of new photographs by Katsumi Omori.
Katsumi Omori was included in the exhibition, every stroller can change the world, recently shown at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. In writing shared with the organizers, he recounts, “…I’ve had the intention of focusing only on the act of seeing up until now, but I realized that I’d also been walking and breathing all along. When I make my way up to the top of a small hill, a variety of sounds reach my ears… The sound of my feet treading the ground, the breaking of waves faintly heard from afar, and the voices of children from a nursery school… I felt a sense of joy when I came to the seemingly obvious realization that there are a multitude of objects and events in this world that aren’t seen or photographed.”

sounds and things is a presentation of approximately 25 works. Forming the focal point of this exhibition are the images created by Omori between 2012 and 2013 while keeping in mind those things and events that do not directly appear in photographs. The artist’s recent series, like STARS AND STRIPES, captured in New York during a public viewing of President Obama’s inauguration ceremony, or Everything happens for the first time, which was produced in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, have been taken at specific locations within relatively short spans of time. The photographs introduced here, however, were taken gradually over a more relaxed timeframe in a variety of locations. They feature outdoor scenes and interior spaces, the individuals Omori encountered throughout his travels, as well as commonplace objects seen in daily life. Although the images seem to be discrete, all of them are connected through Omori’s perspective and each labeled with titles, places, and dates that suggest the unfolding of a narrative. sounds and things is organized as the official exhibition within the regional partnership program accompanying the “True Colors” Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, held from February 7th to February 23rd.

*image (left)
© Katsumi Omori
courtesy of MEM