Charles Fréger’s photographs of costumed figures are on show at Ginza Maison Hermès in Tokyo in his latest exhibition for the Hermès Foundation titled Yôkaïnoshima.Known for photographing people in rituals, festivals, or other practices and special occasions across the world, the French photographer has captured images of villagers from nearly 60 locations around the Japanese islands dressed in elaborate costumes that represent “yōkai” (“妖怪”, “ghost, phantom, strange apparition”), figures of folklore, supernatural creatures, or demons.In these images, Fréger sought to capture the fear and awe these figures instill, highlighting costumes that reveal the Japanese sense of the uncanny. However, he also wanted to illustrate how these characters have fed into animation, branding, and popular culture, from Studio Ghibli (another name for “yōkai” is “mononoke”, for example, from which “Princess Mononoke” is named) to Hello Kitty.Among the 100-or-so works that make up Yōkaïnoshima, there are a number of pieces from Fréger’s previous series, “Wilder Mann,” which the Hermès Foundation exhibited in 2013. For those portraits, the artist focused on the “wild men” trope, including figures from traditional European festivals and rituals that appear as man-beast hybrids, often dressed as bears, goats, or other anthropomorphic creatures. Discovering a similarity between this tradition and Japanese “toshigami” (“年神”, “spirit, deity”), thought by some to be the spirits of ancestors who bring in the new year, Fréger traveled to Japan, which led to the new “Yōkaïnoshima” series now being shown in the capital of the country that proved so inspiration to the photographer.“Charles Fréger: Yôkaïnoshima” runs until 15 May, 2016 at Ginza Maison Hermès
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