Luminous at KG+ Kyoto, with Samurai Foto

Luminous: Lighting the Way — SAMURAI FOTO × BAPC at KG+ 2026

I’m in a group show with BAPC and SAMURAI FOTO Luminous: Lighting the Way — and also putting on a solo show in this amazing photo festival in Kyoto in April. It’s my 4th time participating in the festival.

I’m excited to share that I am participating in the SAMURAI FOTO group exhibition Luminous: Lighting the Way at the Dohjidai Gallery in Kyoto. 13 of their members and 5 BAPC members are in the show. I will show a handful of Burn Line images.

This year’s theme, explores photography’s deep relationship with light — not just as an optical phenomenon, but as a cultural, emotional, and philosophical force. Photography, rooted in the Greek roots photos (light) and graphen (to write), becomes a way of inscribing experience with meaning through illumination. The works in this exhibition are organized into thematic strands — from Literal Light and Enlightenment & Insight to Light on the Unseen and Beauty in Simplicity — and collectively invite viewers to reconsider how light shapes what we see and how we understand our place in the world.

The show is curated by Deborah Klochko. From 2006 to 2023, she led the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) as Executive Director and Chief Curator. Over the course of her tenure, Deborah Klochko helped redefine how photography is presented, collected, and critically interpreted. Her advocacy for visual literacy has positioned it as a crucial competency in contemporary culture, bridging audiences across disciplines and borders. She has worked with Samurai Foto before and this show is the 2nd in a 5 year, 5 part series.

Dohjidai Gallery (google map)
April 21 – May 3, 2026
Daily: 12:00–19:00 (final day until 17:00)
Free opening reception: April 22, 5-7pm

I’m honored to be included among this group of artists whose work embodies such breadth and depth. If you’ll be in Kyoto within the exhibition window, I hope you’ll visit — especially for the ways the work asks us to feel and think about light, perception, and experience.

A Solo Show Announcement: While this group exhibition is a meaningful moment in my practice, I’m also thrilled to let you know that I will be giving more details about my next solo exhibition soon which is also at the KG+ festival.

Thank you for following along. I’m honored to be included in this international dialogue between Japanese and Bay Area photographers. If you’re in Kyoto during the festival, I would love for you to see the work in person. Please contact me for a private tour.

Curation：Deborah Klochko デボラ・クロチコ
アート写真美術館(サンディエゴ)名誉館長
プロフィール