This exhibition introduces a selection of online VR presentations created by students of the course “Capturing Concepts: A Photographic Exploration of the Origins of Kanji” at the Stanford Japan Center during the Autumn 2024 quarter. Modern Japanese kanji are derivations of much older pictographic and ideographic Chinese character sets, sometimes scratched on turtle shells or “oracle bones,” which blurred the lines between structures found in the physical world and how concepts are captured in the written word.
In this creative practicum course, and under the guidance of KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival’s official photographer Naoyuki Ogino, students will photograph scenes from their everyday lives in Kyoto to portray contemporary versions of the ancient forms and original meanings of five different kanji.