Monday 4 September 2007

TASMANIA ON FILM - FROM JAPAN TO THE WORLD AND HOME AGAIN
One of Japan’s leading photographers has returned to Tasmania with an exhibition of images of our wilderness that have captured imaginations around the world.

Congratulating Masaaki Aihara on the opening of his exhibition “Mother Earth”, the Minister for Tourism, Arts and the Environment, Paula Wriedt, said his gift for connecting people with Tasmania through his images had made him a valuable and enduring ambassador for the State.

“Mr Aihara’s first Tasmanian exhibition proved so popular that it was extended from 4 to 14 months and he was asked to become a ‘Friend of Tasmania’ as a result,” said Ms Wriedt.

“His images of Tasmania have appeared in exhibitions across Japan, from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to Fukuoka and Sapporo.

“They have featured in Fuji Film catalogues, and today they adorn the walls of Fuji Film’s premises in Tokyo including three in the office of its CEO.

“Last year, Mr Aihara exhibited in Baltimore, USA, and in Photokina in Cologne, Germany.

“And when a new Incat ferry service was launched in Hakodate with great fanfare just last week, the Higashi Nippon Ferry Terminal was adorned with banners of his Tasmanian photographs.

“Throughout August, and for the next two months, Mr Aihara’s images of Tasmania are also on display in the stores of Japan’s leading outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, Mont Bell.”

“It is especially pleasing that the exhibition will be on view during December, when Tasmania celebrates the 25th anniversary of the inscription of the south-west wilderness on the World Heritage List,” Ms Wriedt said.

The “Mother Earth” exhibition runs until 30 March 2008 at the Wilderness Gallery at the Cradle Mountain Chateau.
The exhibition incorporates photographs of Tasmania highlighting the four key words Wind, Forest, Light and Mountain.

“These are not mere landscape photos but a portrait of our planet as a living being,” Mr Aihara said.

“What better place to exhibit them, I thought, than in Tasmania, a land where the air is clean on the world’s oldest continent.

“This is the honest face of the Earth, without her make-up on, broadcast from a gallery in the middle of the Tasmanian forest, for the whole world to recognise.”

For further information contact Tourism Tasmania's Communications Unit

(03) 6230 8244
email mediainfo@tourism.tas.gov.au