BERLIN.- In a world of change and chaos, where the pace of life often feels relentless, there is a quiet revolution in the art of simply being present. It’s in the often-overlooked everyday moments that we find a serene kind of power. This presence becomes an act of defiance, grounding us in a time when the world seems to be moving too fast.

When Rinko Kawauchi visited Iceland in the summer of 2019, she felt this desire to slow down and reflect. Surrounded by humbling geysers and glaciers, her wish was fulfilled: “As I gazed at this sight, I had the sense of being a fetus enveloped by the earth, and I felt a connection to this planet I have never felt before.” Later that year, she planned to go back to Iceland, but the COVID-19 pandemic stopped her. Instead, she visited the Japanese island of Hokkaido many times during winter. These experiences led to the creation of the series M/E, which stands for “Mother Earth.”

To celebrate Rinko Kawauchi’s dreamy and poetic imagery, Fotografiska Berlin opened the exhibition a faraway shining star, twinkling in hand. The exhibition includes different kinds of works, from photographs to video art.

Kawauchi combines both a micro and macro perspective in her work, which becomes particularly apparent in the series M/E: small everyday situations in the face of grand natural phenomena.

“In the past decade, there have been many big changes, from the Great East Japan Earthquake to the COVID-19 pandemic. Personally, I also had major life changes, like getting married and having a child. It felt like living through big waves. Time passed quickly, but during the pandemic, it seemed to slow down. Sometimes, while working at home, I hear the stream outside, look through my window at the flowing water, and feel a sense of relief. Spending long periods at home for the first time in many years reminded me of my childhood. The long after-school hours and the endless summer holidays.” – Rinko Kawauchi

The exhibition explores themes of human impermanence. It also raises questions about our planet's future: will the Earth continue to warm, causing the glaciers she captured in Iceland to melt completely? How can we improve the place we live in during the time we have left?

a faraway shining star, twinkling in hand is Kawauchi’s attempt to address the unanswerable question of why we are alive right here and right now, and how to make the most of it.

Rinko Kawauchi was born in Shiga, Japan, in 1972. She currently lives and works in Chiba. Kawauchi burst onto the international scene in 2001, when she was awarded Japan’s most important emerging talent photography prize, the Kimura-Ihei-Prize, and shortly after published three books: Utatane, Hanabi and Hanako. Met with great critical acclaim, these “visual essays” demonstrate her skill in telling a photographic tale. Since this triple debut, Kawauchi has gone on to publish another 27 books, including Illuminance, Ametsuchi and Halo. She is a recipient of the annual Infinity Award (2009) from New York’s International Center of Photography in the art category, and was shortlisted in 2012 for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, as well as the 2023 Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award. She has joined and held many group and solo shows, both in Japan and abroad, with major solo exhibitions at venues such as the Foundation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain in Paris, The Photographers’ Gallery in London and the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg. Her solo exhibition M/E. On this sphere Endlessly interlinking showed at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and Shiga Museum of Art from 2022 to 2023.

The exhibition is curated by Jessica Jarl (Global Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska) in collaboration with the artist.