Currently based in Kyoto, the artist and filmmaker Yu Araki (b. 1985) first crossed the Pacific to the United States at the age of three. With limited English at the time, Araki found ways to communicate with friends who spoke different languages through drawings— a formative experience that later led him to embark on a career in visual art. Today, Araki continues to travel between various countries, cities, and regions, engaging with myriad people and cultures along the way. These encounters inform his practice, resulting in works that blend humor with critical insight, while exploring cross-cultural exchange, historical friction, and the layered narratives that lie beneath the surface of history.

This exhibition welcomes Yu Araki as a guest artist, presenting a selection of his new and earlier works in dialogue with pieces from the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Selected by the museum curator, these include works by three artists of Japanese descent who lived in the United States: Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889–1953), Eitaro Ishigaki (1893–1958), and Hideo Noda (1908–1939). In a world still marked by war, economic uncertainty, and ideologies that divide “us” and “them,” this exhibition echoes the historical circumstances these artists faced nearly a century ago. We hope it offers visitors a moment to reflect on their own place in an ever-shifting global landscape, and consider where to go from here.
*Image: Yu, age 3 (at the Narita Airport International Departure lobby—September 19, 1988) [Photo by Hiroji Uno]

• 
  Yu Araki, Stray Dogs, 2017–ongoing (objects manufactured between 1947–1952), Collection of the artist（Installation view of Chronicle, Chronicle! at Creative Center OSAKA, 2017）
  Image courtesy of the artist and MUJIN-TO Production
• 
  Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Coney Island,1938, Collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
• 
  Eitaro Ishigaki, Whipping, 1925, Collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
• 
  Hideo Noda, Landscape, 1937, Collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto