A Solo Exhibition by Shouya Grigg
"In Search of Solitude"
In the northernmost reaches of Japan, where ancient forests meet volcanic peaks, photographer and creative director Shouya Grigg has spent over two decades pursuing a profound dialogue with nature. His work, presented here within the intimate spaces of a 130-year-old Kyo-machiya, reveals moments of transcendent connection between human consciousness and the natural world.
Grigg's artistic practice emerges from extended periods of solitude in Hokkaido's pristine landscapes. Through his lens, we witness not merely observations of nature, but rather a meditation on the liminal spaces where human perception dissolves into pure experience. His black and white photographs, which he describes as "quieter" than color, strip away the superficial to reveal the essential character of each scene.
April 11 (Fri) – May 13 (Tue), 2025
*Closed on Wednesdays and April 24 (Thu)
KYO AMAHARE
127 Aburaya-cho, Takoyakushi-dori, Yanaginobanba Higashi-iru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
075-256-3280
kyo@amahare.jp
Shouya Grigg―Artist Statement
I am looking for what I cannot see.
Listening for what I cannot hear.
Feeling for what has always been there—
but which the self has obscured through its noise and grasping.
My work is not about capturing the world, butabout becoming still enough to receive it. I do not seek images—I allow them to find me. In this quiet, the photographer becomes a medium: not a maker, but a listener. The camera becomes a vessel for presence.
Influenced by Zen, wabi-sabi, and Japanese aesthetics, I search for what lies beneath the surface: the essence in decay, the fullness in emptiness, the truth in silence. The cracks, the mist, the forgotten spaces—all of these are invitations to return to what we already know, buthave forgotten.
Through hand-coloring, I revisit each image as a meditative act—drawing out what the lens alone cannot hold: memory, intuition, breath. The result is not just a photograph, but a trace of stillness. A visual pause.
My work invites you to slow down, to feel, and to remember what has always been here—waiting patiently to be seen.