CREATURES

The Third Gallery Aya is pleased to announce a solo show titled “CREATURES” by ABE Jun.
He has been photographing creatures in zoos and aquariums since the late 1980s, when he was concluding his series Citizen.
This is his first exhibition in a long time, following his show in 1989 at the Picture Photo Space.

Artist Statement for the series Citizen, 1979–1983

Creatures in zoos and aquariums live in artificial environments. When I was toward the end of a series of photographs of people in urban settings, it struck me that human beings living in cities are in similarly artificial environments. That was my motivation for working on this series until 1989.

In that sense, I believe that while the two projects may operate in different dimensions, this series of photographs of creatures in zoos and aquariums is similar in spirit to the earlier series portraying human beings.