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Information
Chinese-American
artist Becky Yee's Back to the Streets examines
the dying world of the city's shotengai, or shopping
streets. As Tokyo evolves, the city's youth and youth culture
have concentrated on the major centers: namely, Shibuya and Harajuku.
Ignored by much of Tokyo's youth are the fringes of the city's
older shopping streets. These traditional areas live on,
but for the most part they are the world of the Japan's "silver" generation.
Back to the Streets takes place
at Nakaochiai Gallery, itself a former noodle shop located
on a nearly dead shotengai. It is here, through a series of
portraits, that Yee breathes life back into the shotengai by
preserving their individual sense of community. Yee redirects
attention to the shotengai by juxtaposing these fading communities
with the youth culture and fashion found in the city's major
centers.
The extreme difference between Ura and Omote,
or the surface and what lies beneath, is what continues to influence
much of her work. The mainstream of much of Japanese society
contrasts with what she calls, "the city's crazy underworld
of culture and landscape."
Gallery Open Hours : Sunday and Public Holiday
12:00 - 17:00 and by appointment
Phone : 03-5988-7830
E-mail : info@nakaochiaigallery.com
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