アトリエリッケンバッカー

Atelier Ricken Backer

When considering broadly what “faith” corresponds to in Japan, it can be said to be Shinto and Buddhism.
However, from the perspective of other countries, there are not a few voices that question the nature of Japanese faith.
While religion exists, there is an opinion that faith itself is thin.
As for myself, I have also heard such views about Japanese faith during my time living abroad.

This exhibition is curated under the concept of “prayer without faith,”
featuring artists affiliated with Atelier Ricken Backer.

As modernization has progressed, society has shifted toward materialism, and it is said that most of the younger generation living in the Reiwa era do not hold religious beliefs.
However, in their acts of expression, even without adherence to a specific deity, one can sense something close to faith.
By seeking out subjects and translating them into images, they seem to question something like a hidden truth within.
I felt that this process overlaps with ritualized acts of prayer that have been predetermined.

To create something without form, or to produce an image, and deliver a prayer into it—
such an act may not be an exaggeration to say is equivalent to their photographic practice.

Each participating artist uses photography as a visual language,
and I believe this group exhibition presents a way of affirming the world as it exists today.

Kohei Fukushima
Representative and Director, Atelier Ricken Backer