I, Oblomov. Ikuru Kuwajima

The international festival of contemporary photography PHOTOBOOKFEST 2018 presents the exhibition "I, Oblomov" by the young photographer Ikuru Kuwajima (Japan / Russia).

“Ilya Ilyich Oblomov was lying in bed in the morning in bed in his apartment in Gorokhovaya Street, in one of the large houses whose population would have been in a whole county town.” From this first line of Goncharov’s novel, the journey of Japanese documentary photographer Ikuru Kuwajima in time and space begins, to the origins of the “mysterious Russian soul” and to the depths of one’s own dreams.

The project “I, Oblomov” balances between a photographic rethinking of the classics of Russian literature and an attempt to acquire a new cultural identity. In other words, based on Goncharov’s text, Ikuru simultaneously talks about himself and the viewer. This Japanese neat series of self-portraits is important not only in geography (Kazan, Simferopol, Moscow, Kirov, Alma-Ata, Kiev, Bishkek, Samara, Morki village, etc.), but also in the variety of spaces for thought in which he finds himself sleeping Ikuru Oblomov.

Self-portrait is a vivid phenomenon in photography. Let us recall, for example, Yasumasu Morimur, who reinterprets popular culture and the world history of art with his works. Or the Chinese artist Liu Bolin, thanks to the make-up and scenery merging with the environment.

Ikuru Kuwajima combines both of these approaches to working with the self-portrait genre. The author comments on the post-Soviet environment (“Oblomovism”), in which he is located, and invites the viewer to take a fresh look at Goncharov’s classic text.

The exhibition will present about forty works from the project "I, Oblomov." The exposition space will also include the author’s self-titled photo book with six pillow cover options, published with the support of PHOTOBOOKFEST in 2017.

The curator of the exhibition is Katerina Zueva.

About the author:

Ikuru Kuwajima studied journalism at the University of Missouri (Columbia, USA), has traveled and worked in Romania, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia for the past five years. Published in publications such as National Geographic, Wired Magazine Photo Blog, Newsweek Japan, Le Monde, Russian Reporter, Marie Claire, New York Times Lens Blog, Forbes Magazine, “Guardian”, “Esquire Russia”.

The works of Ikuru Kuwajima were presented at the Venice Biennale in the pavilion of Central Asia (Italy, 2013), at the Noorderlicht festival “Metropolis - City Life in the Urban Age” (Holland, 2011), as part of the projects “Marie. Research / Chuvash. Research ”(Triumph Gallery, Moscow, 2015)“ Metageography ”(Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 2015),“ Every Day of Winter ”(Museum“ Metenkov’s House ”, Yekaterinburg, 2015) and many others.

Ikuru also works with the photo book format, his projects were awarded with the international awards Kassel Dummy Award, Self Publish Riga, Vienna Photobook Award, and the photo book “I, Oblomov” was awarded the main prize in the PHOTOBOOKFEST 2017 Book Layout Competition.