Same-sex relationships, American bases in Okinawa, globalization, the Olympics, the atomic bomb, national identity, the exploitation of natural resources — the "Image Narratives: Literature in Japanese Contemporary Art" exhibition at The National Art Center, Tokyo, does not lack for hot button topics.
The six-person show is not, however, confrontational about social and political issues. Instead these are revealed solicitously through the different narrative strategies of the selected works. The mood of the show, with the exception of some comic satirical moments from Okinawa-based Chikako Yamashiro's "Chinbin Western: Representation of the Family," is subdued and rather melancholy.
Don't expect references to classic literary works. There is a disclaimer in the art center's exhibition overview that the "literature" in the title refers to the exhibits having poetic or literary qualities, rather than being intertextual. The Japanese exhibition title, "Hanashiteiru no wa Dare?" — which could be translated as "Who's Doing the Talking?" — gives the viewer quite a different schema for interpreting the works. As all the artists are Japanese, the exhibition seems to be positing that there is a plurality of voices and concerns in this country, despite the received wisdom of Japan being culturally homogenous.