We are pleased to present Yuhei Higashikata’s solo exhibition “Become a Tokyo Monkey! : The Journey to the East”

Yuhei Higashikata has stayed in various Southeast Asian countries, creating works that reexamine everyday Japanese scenes through elements deeply rooted in local culture, such as bananas and coffee. While these works, with their catchy motifs and humor, may appear approachable at first glance, they involve viewers as participants by innocently reproducing the unbalanced relationship between Japan and Southeast Asia (even if this perspective might be one-sided).

This exhibition primarily features works centered on the endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey from northern Vietnam. The artist will also conduct a residency just before the exhibition period. By intentionally misreading and reconstructing the word “Tonkin” – which remains from Chinese culture and French colonial occupation – as “Tokyo,” the exhibition reexamines the cultural and semantic intersections throughout history.

Just as “Tonkin,” like “Tokyo,” indicates the eastern direction, “Hokkaido” points to the north. But east from where? North from where? This perpetuates a relationship between center and periphery. While moving between places, Yuhei Higashikata has approached serious themes from multiple angles through his humor-infused works. This exhibition, held in his hometown of Sapporo, Hokkaido, will provide an opportunity to view regions and cultures from different perspectives while reconsidering his background (which might, perhaps, be his own center).