Humanities in Session: Archive Lab, HOME: IE by Naoya Yoshikawa

Synopsis

In Japanese, the word ie means both house and home, reflecting the deep relationship between place, family and memory. Traditionally, the land, the house and the family are understood as inseparable, shaped by rituals that honour both ancestors and the spirit of the place. This series began after photographer Naoya Yoshikawa’s family home in Nara was sold in 2019. Built by his father in 1964, it had been the centre of family life for more than five decades. Although the house still stands, it no longer belongs to his family, prompting the artist to reflect on what “home” truly means. Photographed in and around Nara, the images explore memory, loss and belonging. Familiar landscapes, once taken for granted, become repositories of personal history, while the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic further deepened Yoshikawa’s understanding of home as both a physical place and an emotional state. HOME: IE is a quiet meditation on family, impermanence and the universal search for belonging.

This talk is presented as part of NAV’s ongoing Archive Lab series, which gathers scholars, students, artists and archivists to think together about archival practice, research methods and the activation of research collections. Archive Lab is part of the Humanities in Session series presented by the Centre for Humanities Research at UWC.

Bio

Naoya Yoshikawa graduated from Osaka University of Arts and is a professor at Osaka University of Arts. In 2016 Yoshikawa was art director of the Daegu Photo Biennale in Korea and has been a fellow and artist in residence at a number of institutions including the Akiyoshidai International Art Village, Japan, the Civitella Ranieri Center, Italy, and the Fine Arts and Media Department of Southampton College, U.S.A. Yoshikawa has also produced a numerous solo exhibitions in China, Czechia, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Morocco, Poland, South Africa, U.S.A. and Japan.