Giada Ripa
Giada Ripa

The Yokohama Project

Period

2015–17

Location

Japan

Journey

+3000 km

Chapter I

Views of Japan: inspired by “Photographic Views of Japan with Historical and Descriptive Notes” from the Album of Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Lake Ashi, Hakone, Ashigarashimo district, Kanagawa Prefecture, Giada Ripa, 120×150 cm / 150×180 cm

Chapter I

Chapter I — Fusiyama from Mooriyama, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Hakone shrine, Giada Ripa 2015

Chapter I — Avenue at Hakoni, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Hakone shrine, Giada Ripa 2015, 80×100 cm

Chapter I — View from Naoshima island, Seto inland sea, Giada Ripa, 2015, 80×100 cm each / 100×125 cm each

Chapter I

Chapter I — View from the french bluff, Yokohama, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I – 120×150 cm

Chapter I — View of Nagasaki, Giada Ripa, 2015, 100×125 cm

Chapter I — Yokohama, Giada Ripa, 2014, 80×100 cm

Chapter I

Chapter I — Nagasaki, Giada Ripa, 2015, 125×100 cm / 140×175 cm

Chapter I

Chapter I

Chapter I – 120×150 cm

Chapter I — View from the top of the hill, Miyajima island, Giada Ripa, 2015, 80×100 cm

Chapter I — Hakone lake, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — View of Hakone lake, Giada Ripa, 2015, 80×100 cm

Chapter I – 80×100 cm

Chapter I — View of Mount Fuji from Enoshima. Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — A beach in Naoshima island-Self Portrait as a tribute to Mathilde Ruinart, Giada Ripa, 2015, 120×150 cm / 140×175 cm

Chapter I — Castle of Yedo, Inner Moat. Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Miyagoni hot spring, Self Portrait as a tribute to Mathilde Ruinart, Giada Ripa, 2015, 50×60 cm

Chapter I

Chapter II

Portraits inspired by “Native Types” from the Album of Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II — Yu Yamagata - Female wrestling fighter, Giada Ripa, 2016, 125×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II — Karen Hinata - Mistress or Dominatrix, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Young ladies with pipe, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II

Chapter II — Katsuji Takahashi, Kick Boxing Champion, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Sumotori or Wrestlers, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II – 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II – 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Ko-boto Santaro, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II — Takahiro Nagino, Illustrator and Artist, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Matcho guy, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm

Chapter II — Straw Rain Coat, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II — Shoshi Doi - Fashion student, Tokyo, Giada Ripa, 2016, 80×100 cm / 100×125 cm

Chapter II — Kazufusa Hosho - 20th Generation Head of Hosho School, Noh Performer, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II – 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II — Touma, Gothic Lolita, Doll’s dress designer, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II — Kanshin Mochida, Buddhist monk, Giada Ripa, 2016, 80×100 cm / 125×100 cm

Chapter II — Fishmonger, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Fishmonger, Felice Beato, 1868

Info

Felice Beato, Mathilde Ruinart and Giada Ripa. A conversation amongst three artists and their western vision of Japan over a 150 year span.

Rummaging through boxes long forgotten in an attic of her family house in the Italian region of Piedmont, Ripa came across an album of old photographs, fifty-three hand-coloured albumen prints of portraits and views of the city of Yokohama and its surroundings, all in pristine condition. The photographer is Felice Beato: the first visual narrator of 1860’s Japanese society. More

He established in Japan when it had just opened its doors to the western world in a period during which the Shogun had forbidden access to foreigners except as part of diplomatic missions. For over fifty years, until the early twentieth century, Beato’s photographs of Asia constituted the standard imagery used in travel diaries, illustrated newspapers, and other published accounts, and thus helping shape “Western” notion of Asian society. Coincidentally, in parallel, a few months later, she found an unpublished manuscript of Mathilde Ruinart, and ancestor of hers, an artist and muse to several intellectuals, who left for the Orient in 1867, along with her diplomat husband, providing a vivid description of it. 

From her “Carnets de Voyage” and “Voyage au Japon” emerges the friendship with Felice Beato explaining how the album ended up in the house. In her role as photographer and with both an archival and anthropological approach, Giada Ripa acted as the link between Beato’s images and the figure of Mathilde, following their respective footsteps and attempting, through her western prism, to identify local contemporary analogies, and convey the transformations of society and landscape in Yokohama and its surroundings.

Video

The Yokohama Project, Video

Objects

The Yokohama Project, Object #2

The Yokohama Project, Object #3

Exhibitions

The Yokohama Project, Palazzo Litta, 04.10–29.11.2017

The Yokohama Project, Kyotographie, 15.04–14.05.2017

Press

SO SOIR, Le SOIR

The Yokohama Project

Period

2015–17

Location

Japan

Journey

+3000 km

Chapter I

Views of Japan: inspired by “Photographic Views of Japan with Historical and Descriptive Notes” from the Album of Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Lake Ashi, Hakone, Ashigarashimo district, Kanagawa Prefecture, Giada Ripa, 120×150 cm / 150×180 cm

Chapter I

Chapter I — Fusiyama from Mooriyama, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Hakone shrine, Giada Ripa 2015

Chapter I — Avenue at Hakoni, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Hakone shrine, Giada Ripa 2015, 80×100 cm

Chapter I — View from Naoshima island, Seto inland sea, Giada Ripa, 2015, 80×100 cm each / 100×125 cm each

Chapter I

Chapter I — View from the french bluff, Yokohama, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I – 120×150 cm

Chapter I — View of Nagasaki, Giada Ripa, 2015, 100×125 cm

Chapter I — Yokohama, Giada Ripa, 2014, 80×100 cm

Chapter I

Chapter I — Nagasaki, Giada Ripa, 2015, 125×100 cm / 140×175 cm

Chapter I

Chapter I

Chapter I – 120×150 cm

Chapter I — View from the top of the hill, Miyajima island, Giada Ripa, 2015, 80×100 cm

Chapter I — Hakone lake, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — View of Hakone lake, Giada Ripa, 2015, 80×100 cm

Chapter I – 80×100 cm

Chapter I — View of Mount Fuji from Enoshima. Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — A beach in Naoshima island-Self Portrait as a tribute to Mathilde Ruinart, Giada Ripa, 2015, 120×150 cm / 140×175 cm

Chapter I — Castle of Yedo, Inner Moat. Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter I — Miyagoni hot spring, Self Portrait as a tribute to Mathilde Ruinart, Giada Ripa, 2015, 50×60 cm

Chapter I

Chapter II

Portraits inspired by “Native Types” from the Album of Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II — Yu Yamagata - Female wrestling fighter, Giada Ripa, 2016, 125×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II — Karen Hinata - Mistress or Dominatrix, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Young ladies with pipe, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II

Chapter II — Katsuji Takahashi, Kick Boxing Champion, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Sumotori or Wrestlers, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II – 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II – 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Ko-boto Santaro, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II — Takahiro Nagino, Illustrator and Artist, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Matcho guy, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm

Chapter II — Straw Rain Coat, Felice Beato, 1868

Chapter II — Shoshi Doi - Fashion student, Tokyo, Giada Ripa, 2016, 80×100 cm / 100×125 cm

Chapter II — Kazufusa Hosho - 20th Generation Head of Hosho School, Noh Performer, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II – 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II — Touma, Gothic Lolita, Doll’s dress designer, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II

Chapter II — Kanshin Mochida, Buddhist monk, Giada Ripa, 2016, 80×100 cm / 125×100 cm

Chapter II — Fishmonger, Giada Ripa, 2016, 50×60 cm / 80×100 cm

Chapter II — Fishmonger, Felice Beato, 1868

Info

Felice Beato, Mathilde Ruinart and Giada Ripa. A conversation amongst three artists and their western vision of Japan over a 150 year span.

Rummaging through boxes long forgotten in an attic of her family house in the Italian region of Piedmont, Ripa came across an album of old photographs, fifty-three hand-coloured albumen prints of portraits and views of the city of Yokohama and its surroundings, all in pristine condition. The photographer is Felice Beato: the first visual narrator of 1860’s Japanese society. More

He established in Japan when it had just opened its doors to the western world in a period during which the Shogun had forbidden access to foreigners except as part of diplomatic missions. For over fifty years, until the early twentieth century, Beato’s photographs of Asia constituted the standard imagery used in travel diaries, illustrated newspapers, and other published accounts, and thus helping shape “Western” notion of Asian society. Coincidentally, in parallel, a few months later, she found an unpublished manuscript of Mathilde Ruinart, and ancestor of hers, an artist and muse to several intellectuals, who left for the Orient in 1867, along with her diplomat husband, providing a vivid description of it. 

From her “Carnets de Voyage” and “Voyage au Japon” emerges the friendship with Felice Beato explaining how the album ended up in the house. In her role as photographer and with both an archival and anthropological approach, Giada Ripa acted as the link between Beato’s images and the figure of Mathilde, following their respective footsteps and attempting, through her western prism, to identify local contemporary analogies, and convey the transformations of society and landscape in Yokohama and its surroundings.

Video

The Yokohama Project, Video

Objects

The Yokohama Project, Object #2

The Yokohama Project, Object #3

Exhibitions

The Yokohama Project, Palazzo Litta, 04.10–29.11.2017

The Yokohama Project, Kyotographie, 15.04–14.05.2017

Press

SO SOIR, Le SOIR

Giada RipaGiada RipaGiada RipaGiada RipaGiada Ripa