Installation view, Hitoshi Fugo: KAMI, Courtesy Miyako Yoshinaga

This week’s Gallery Spotlight shines brightly on Miyako Yoshinaga who opened their esteemed gallery in New York City 25 years ago this month.  Their current exhibition Hitoshi Fugo: KAMI, closing on June 1st, will be their “final” show before the gallery goes nomadic until further notice. They will continue to work with their artists and clients in different capacities as they embark on a new chapter in the art world.

In these last few weeks, be sure to visit their space for the solo exhibition of photographer Hitoshi Fugo. Featuring one of his most ambitious, yet long-silenced projects, KAMI is a still-life study of large burnt paper rolls that the artist salvaged from a printing factory fire in 1993. In 2001, Fugo began photographing the roll documenting each stage and progress of destruction, sometimes adding new physical forces such as cutting through a thick wall of paper with a chainsaw, which investigated the violence lurking within himself. The result is an unsettling yet fascinating visual rhapsody consisting of 31 black-and-white images that delves into the essence of paper, with its cut and burnt surfaces powerfully exposed.

Paper in Japanese is kami, a homonym of god. The artist gave the title, KAMI, to this body of work, implying the absence of god in today’s destructive world. The exhibition includes 11 images from the series, two of which were photographed in 2023 of the same paper roll.

To learn more and view the works, click here.