Jun 13

Jun 13 RongRong & Inri: Tsumari Story at Chambers Fine Art

by Karolina Sotomayor

Looking at the images by Sino-Japanese couple RongRong and inri makes it impossible not to fall in love. It’s not only about their bodies perfectly interwoven like threads but it is also about the harmonious energy they have with nature and their surroundings.

This past June 2, Chambers Fine Art Gallery opened RongRong & Inri: Tsumari Story, the couple’s new autobiographical exhibition documenting their relationship in the purest and most intimate ways photography can. The photographers’ innovative use of the darkroom, hand tinting and layering of textured materials turns each image into an unforgettable journey into the intimacy of their relationship.

The couple has played a pivotal role in the history of contemporary Chinese photography since the 1990’s. Mao Zedong’s reformation policies motivated artists to create smaller communities in what came to be known as the East Village in the peripheries of Beijing. RongRong and Inri’s documentation of performances and artists’ daily lives has been crucial to the knowledge we have of these artistic movements in China today.

In April 2016, the couple won the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award during the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London. RongRong and Inri: Tsumari Story will be on view through August 20, 2016.