Exhibition Type: Solo Exhibition

Artist: Naoya Yoshikawa

Venue: Iyatsiba Gallery, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape

Address: 66 Greatmore Street, Woodstock, Cape Town

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HOME: IE

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.