La Jornada: The Japanese Light photography exhibition celebrates the everyday as “a miracle”

Japanese light It is the first photographic exhibition by designer Diego Flores Círigo (Mexico City, 2001), with which he seeks to show that “everyday life is something extraordinary.” The 21 images that make up it are the result of a reflection he made after visiting the Japanese nation. The exhibition opens today at 6 p.m. at El Convite, in the Portales neighborhood.

In interview with The Day, The musician also spoke about his artistic perspective, which led to a graphic dialogue between the city, mysticism and nature.

“I have focused more on music, I have released three rapper albums, but I have been taking photos almost all my life; all facets of art complement each other. When I went to Japan last year, I decided not to do much research because I wanted to get the impression of someone who faces the unknown, of seeing everything new and trying to understand it from uncertainty,” he comments.

During the two weeks of his trip, with camera and notebook in hand, Flores visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kobe; On his way he captured images of temples, Mounts Fuji and Haji, and their surroundings, as well as restaurants and places.

“It was extraordinary. I immediately felt the tremendous connection between the urban and the rural; it amazes me how dichotomies can be found in almost every place, like the small spaces of peace of the sanctuaries, surrounded by everything, of a bustling city, and what other example can we see than one of the largest in the world, which is Tokyo,” he says.

In his images, the figures of the temples, statues and effigies with light poles, vehicular passages, people traveling on the Shinkansen, the famous bullet train, contrast. In this regard, Diego Flores states: “entering a place like Tokyo, which is ‘the city’, and which has no problems coexisting with the idea that nature must be respected. It might seem ridiculous, but even the green of the trees here is not the same as the ones there. It does not necessarily indicate that something is better, but it is a perspective that as a photographer I acquired, and I discovered that nothing is the same.”

Of the 900 images he captured during the trip, in the first cut he left out 800, and of those he chose 21, which are exhibited and represent the most emblematic memories of the relationship between nature and what Japanese society has built: nostalgia, the faces of the inhabitants, the statues and traditions.

“Going open made me be more alert when observing everything. You learn to see what the drain covers are like, to see what a kanji that we don’t know means, the sounds, the type of cars. Many times we describe things as irrelevant and mundane, because we don’t realize that everyday life is a miracle,” he says.

The photographer explains that his intention is to make the public revalue the meaning of what they experience daily.

“I imagine what we could learn about ourselves and what surrounds us simply by trying to see a daily commute as if it were a trip. It’s almost impossible with this fast-paced lifestyle, but opening ourselves to that idea can make life more fulfilling. I believe that gratitude for the environment is one of the wisest things we can do.”

Flores Círigo explained that “as a Mexican it is very striking, because there we can see that there is order, an organization of things, and it is beautiful, but we always end up missing our land; part of its magic is the chaotic aspect, something that we can also appreciate.

“In the images of the exhibition you can see that Mexicans and Japanese have a lot in common, especially because of the musicality of our cultures. Everything has a little song. With these images you can cross a barrier; I learned that the melody of life is always playing,” he concluded.

The exhibition Japanese light closes June 30. He stays at El Convite (Ajusco 79 bis, Colonia Portales). Free entry.