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1_WALL

9th “1_WALL” Photography

Today, modes of artistic expression are becoming increasingly diversified, and together with artists who wholeheartedly seek to express themselves in new ways, Guardian Garden aspires to be a venue for considering new expressive modes. This aspiration derives from our hope that artists will overcome any hurdles in their way by offering them a gallery wall where they can express themselves freely, through their works.

Judging Results

Final Round of Judging

Grand Prize

"Marginal Man is Dead"
Yuto Kasai
Born in 1988 / Graduated from Tokyo University of Science.
I shot wanting to give chaos a name.
Words of bereavement before standing up.
To illogic, to the past, to the future.
With these hands, I change, the world.
Create, the world.

Final Round of Judging

The third and final round of judging is conducted open to public viewing. The six finalists give presentations of their works on display and their plans for their solo exhibition if they win the Grand Prize. The judges discuss the merits of each finalist’s portfolio, works shown, and presentation, and together decide the winner of the Grand Prize.

“1_WALL” Exhibition

A group exhibition is held spotlighting the six finalists to emerge from the second round of judging. Each finalist is allocated a gallery wall (approx. 3.85m wide and 2.5m high) to display their works. Besides the works themselves, the judges also take into consideration how the finalists use their overall display space and how they show their works.

Success in the Second Round of Judging

Finalists

  • "with a blank look, melting"

    Erina Izawa

    Born in 1989

    Graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University, Faculty of Arts, with a concentration in photography.

  • "Korean 20’s"

    Dongwoong Lee

    Born in 1988

    Currently a senior at Tokyo Polytechnic University, majoring in photography (Faculty of Arts).

  • "Marginal Man is Dead"

    Yuto Kasai

    Born in 1988

    Graduated from Tokyo University of Science.

  • "case"

    Tatsuki Tomiya

    about what happened on the image surface

  • "me in the world"

    Izumi Miyazaki

    Born in 1994

    Second-year student at Musashino Art University, majoring in Imaging Arts and Sciences (College of Art and Design).

  • "Brazilian Rhapsody"

    Hidetoshi Senga

    Born in 1978

    Graduated from Yamanashi Gakuin University.

Judges’ Encouragement Prizes

  • Takamitsu Nii

    Selected by Ryudai Takano

  • Yuki Morita

    Selected by Hiromi Tsuchida

  • Akira Matsumoto

    Selected by Kimi Himeno

  • Soushi Tanaka

    Selected by Rei Masuda

  • Yuichiro Noda

    Selected by Satoshi Machiguchi

Second Round of Judging

A portfolio review is held one-on-one between each entrant and a judge. Here, the entrants are given the opportunity to directly explain the motives behind their works or their production process. After all portfolio reviews are completed, the judges assemble to discuss their assessments and select the six finalists.

Success in First Round of Judging

Entrants Who Successfully Passed the First Round of Judging

Portfolio Judging

Judging is performed based on entrants’ work files and data. The judges, all prominent in their respective fields – design, illustration, photography, etc. – plus members of the secretariat, render their judgments from various perspectives. Thirty entrants are selected to continue on to the second round of judging.

Judges

  • Ryudai Takano

    (Photographer)

    Born in 1963. His major photo books are IN MY ROOM (Sokyusha), How to contact a man (Akio Nagasawa Publishing), Kasubaba (Daiwa Press), α (SUPER DELUXE) and Manazashi ni fureru (Suiseisha). In 2006 he won a Kimura Ihei Award in Photography.

  • Hiromi Tsuchida

    (Photographer)

    Born in Fukui Prefecture in 1939. His major works include Zokushin (1976), Hiroshima (1985), Counting Grains of Sand (1990) and BERLIN (2011). In 2008 he won the Domon Ken Award. Collections of his works are found at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, etc.

  • Kimi Himeno

    (Principal and director of AKAAKA Art Publishing)

    Established AKAAKA Art Publishing in 2006. To date the company has published more than 200 books, mainly photo books and art books. Publications include many recipients of the Kimura Ihei Award: Lieko Shiga (“CANARY” 2007); Atsushi Okada (“I am” 2007); Masashi Asada (“Asadake” 2008); Cozue Takagi (“MID” 2009; “GROUND” 2009); Arata Dodo (“Taigan” 2012); Ryuichi Ishikawa (“A Grand Polyphony” 2014; “okinawan portraits 2010-2012” 2014); and Aya Fujioka (“Here Goes River” 2017). Since 2018 she is also a professor at Osaka University of Arts.

  • Rei Masuda

    (Chief curator at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)

    Born in Kobe in 1968. Completed the graduate course in Area Studies at the University of Tsukuba. Since 1992 he has worked at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT). Among exhibitions he has curated in recent years are: “Josef Koudelka Retrospective” (2013), “Narahara Ikko: Domains” (2014), and “Thomas Ruff” (2016).

  • Satoshi Machiguchi

    (Art director, Publisher)

    President of the design studio match and company, inc. In 2005 he launched “M,” a photo book label, and began operating “bookshop M,” a website selling photo books. Since 2008 he has continuously exhibited his works at “Paris Photo,” one of the world’s foremost photography festivals, just one example of how he demonstrates his unique approach to his art. He probes the possibilities of Japanese photo books from a global perspective.