MEM is pleased to announce the exhibition of Natsumi Hayashi, one of the emerging artists who is getting a lot of attention for her series of levitating self-portrait “Today’s Levitation”, at Spiral Garden in Aoyama, Tokyo.

On New Year’s Day 2011, Hayashi launched a project on her blog, “yowayowa camera woman diary”, which features photos of herself floating in midair, published at a rate of one a day. These simple photos, taken at a particular location she visits that same day, captures the moment at which she jumps up into the air. The resulting images, however, seem to depict some supernatural phenomenon that defies the laws of gravity.

In addition to her blog, she is also a user of Twitter and Facebook. The main platform for her project is the Internet. Just a few months after the launch of her project, Hayashi sparked a worldwide craze for levitation photos, producing an entire string of imitators who took photos of themselves levitating.

For the first time in Japan, this exhibition showcases a representative selection of Hayashi’s work, with a particular focus on several new pieces measuring 6x9m. In addition to being her first large-scale solo exhibition, this boldly configured space will offer visitors an engaging, fully immersive experience of “Today’s Levitation”.

*image (left)
Today's Levitation: Vietnam Wacoal Corp., Bien Hoa, Vietnam
© Natsumi Hayashi, Courtesy of MEM