Japan Art Festival, April 2022, Paris

Bringing together Japanese and French artists, the 2022 Japan Art Festival was held in the Halle des Blancs Manteaux in the 4^th arrondissement of Paris from April 24-26.

As part of the Franco-Japanese Cultural Exchange, the Japan Art Festival is a partnership between the City of Paris and the City of Tokyo through the Paris City Hall, the Embassy of Japan in France, and the Japan-Europe Palace Art Association, Tokyo. Here in Paris are the works of Japanese artists. The works of about 30 Parisian artists will be exhibited next autumn in the Tokyo exhibition at the Theatre Metropolitan.

The 2022 Japan Art Festival in Paris showcased 269 Japanese artworks from traditional to contemporary in all kinds of disciplines: calligraphy, photography, painting, sculpture, needlework, and poetry. The exhibition also selected seven haiku poems, traditional Japanese poems, and two photo-haiku poems of Parisian creators. Haiku is an ancient form of Jpanese poetry of 17 syllables in three lines.

On Sunday 24 April, the first day of the exhibition, the highlight included performances of the Japanese drum (taiko) by percussionist Takuya.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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