(28 February 2017) The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan whose origins are still under debate and who are known for their ancient pictorial rituals, bear sacrifices, to women’s tattooed lips. An exhibition organised by and hosted at the Italian Cultural Institute of Tokyo titled “The Ainu Today” (Gli Ainu oggi), delves into this community through Laura Liverani’s photographic lens. The artist explores the sense of native identity in contemporary Japanese society through photographic portraiture exploring a community’s sense of belonging in the two-way journey of preservation and reinvention of one’s own culture, the recuperation of one’s language and fighting for civil rights. The exhibition, organised by the ICI in collaboration with the international collective ‘Lunch Bee House’ will be inaugurated on March 6 with the artist and will remain open to the public until March 18. The installation of photographs is accompanied by audio-visual material produced by the artist along with the Lunch Bee House collective (Laura Liverani, Neo Sora, Valy Thorsteindottir). Futhermore, Liverani will be present at the exhibition on Saturday March 11 and Thursday March 16 from 16:00 to 18:00. (Red)

A PASSION BETWEEN ITALY AND THE FAR EAST

Laura Liverani is a photographer and university docent. After obtaining her degree in Visual Arts from the University of Bologna and specialised in photography from the University of Westminster in London, she worked and lived in Italy and Asia, especially Japan. Her photographic projects circulate to exhibitions and festivals such as the Singapore International Photography Festival (2014) and the Ethical Photography Festival of Lodi (2016). Her projects are also published on international journals such as Clothes for Humans of Benetton. As a photography docent, she has collaborated with ISIA of Faenza, National College of Art in Dublin and Middlesex University in London. In 2015 her long-term Ainu Nenoan Project won the Vogliono Award for best portfolio.