JPF Sydney: Homage

HOMAGE
For the 2006 Australia-Japan Year of Exchange and the 30th anniversary of Hozumi Momota’s death

Australian-Japanese photo-narrative celebrating the life and influence of Hozumi Momota

There will still be many people who remember Hozumi Momota, the dynamic young Japanese artist who in 1976 fasted for a week on the steps of the GPO in support of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign and was murdered two weeks later while taxidriving. October 10th marks the 30th anniversary of his death and as this ties in with the 30th anniversary of the Australia-Japan Foundation and the 2006 Australia-Japan Year of Exchange, fellow artist Helen Momota has curated an exhibition in celebration of his life and influence and of their Australian-Japanese relationship.

“Homage” has everything: love, art, humanitarian action, death, creativity, cultural exchange, festivals, pilgrimage, all within an Australian-Japanese context. Helen has drawn from her own photo collection and from documentation by a number of Sydney photographers to create a photo-narrative covering her meeting with Hozumi in May 1970, their marriage three weeks later, life in Japan, India and Australia, Hozumi’s fast in Martin Place, his early death, and the cultural activities of the Hozumi Momota Foundation including the art awards and first Australian-Japanese festivals in 1978 and 1979. “Man’s Conquest of Hunger and Misery”, the painting Hozumi worked on during his fast, will feature as central focus of the exhibition and will be supplemented by images from the several hundred paintings he completed in the two years before his death.

Hozumi Momota was a deep thinker who believed into turning his philosophy into action. In October 1978, the Bulletin referred to him as “a rare truth-seeker”, and Cirrel Greet of the Sun as “one of Sydney’s great humanitarians”. Certainly he played a significant role in the development of Australian-Japanese relationships and as such homage is due to him, and also to all the Australians and Japanese who poured energy into the bicultural activities of the late seventies. In portraying her personal experience of a love across cultures and a vibrant period of cross-cultural interaction Helen pays tribute to Hozumi and to Australia and Japan.

The Homage exhibition
When	10 - 27 October 2006 Mon-Fri 11am-5.30pm, Wed 11am-6pm
Where	The Japan Foundation Gallery, Level 1, Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney
Enquiries	02 8239 0055

Hozumi Momota’s work can be seen at www.momota-artworks.com.