Kyotographie — the brainchild of photographer Lucille Reyboz and lighting artist Yusuke Nakanishi — is 5 this year. Conceived and nurtured in Kyoto, it is now one of few substantial photography festivals in Japan, inarguably rivaling, even surpassing, many of the country's other calendar art events. The present manifestation of the festival celebrates its anniversary, the field of photography and all those who helped make the event possible.
Fittingly monumental, the theme is "love." This was decided a year ago owing to the perennial problems engaging the world: social, environmental, conflictual. Love appealed as a motif and message around which the organizers believe a diverse audience can unify. They sought a conceptual love story with an evolution branching into different perspectives built on divergent experiences.
Pivotal is Spaniard Isabel Munoz, whose "Family Album" series focuses on affections between gorillas and bonobos in a return to a supposed simplicity observed in nature. A thematic correlate, though lighter in touch, will be a one-off comedic theatrical performance on April 21 that features a romance between two gorillas separated by the geography of Kyoto and Tokyo zoos. Munoz's further humanly complicated "Love and Ecstasy" series deals with an origin of love in those who push themselves to bodily extremes in the service of a god or spirituality.