‘Kwaidan’, the exhibition and a prestigious cultural event connecting Japan and Ireland is managed by Blue Moon Projects and SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin.

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Kwaidan aims to follow in Lafcadio Hearn’s footsteps by connecting east and west through common cultural values, and will be a shared celebration of the life and work of Lafcadio Hearn, the Irish literary figure revered in Japan as the cultural icon Koizumi Yakumo.

Kwaidan includes 20 leading artists from Japan and 20 artists from Ireland who visually interpret a story of their choice from Kwaidan, Hearn’s 1904 seminal collection of ghost stories inspired by Shintō and Buddhist legends.

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The exhibition will be staged in many venues in Japan and Ireland from September 2023 to the end of 2025. This will include being one of the main opening events for the exhibition space in the new Irish Embassy building (New Ireland House) in Tokyo and at the Lafcadio Hearn Museum in Matsue. In Ireland the prestigious venues will include Farmleigh Gallery in Dublin and Hyde Bride Gallery at the Yeats Building Sligo.

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Kwaidan will offer unique access to connections, exposure and cultural affinity with an historic event that will have lasting resonance in both countries. Project has the support of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs Ireland, Irish Embassy in Tokyo, Japanese Embassy in Dublin, Business to Arts and UCD, and organisers will engage with Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Ireland.

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For more information: https://kwaidanexhibition.com/

• SO Fine Art Editions is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary galleries specialising in printmaking. SO Director Catherine O’Riordan has worked with many of the Kwaidan participants previously. SO’s most recent international print project was a lonely impulse of delight in 2015 which toured to London, Beijing and Tokyo. www.sofinearteditions.com

Stephen Lawlor
0868314040
slawlorart@gmail.com
www.stephenlawlor.com