Giada Ripa's 'The Yokohama Project' Reimagines Felice Beato's 1860s Japan
While exploring her family home in Piedmont, Italy, photographer Giada Ripa stumbled upon a remarkable set of 53 hand-colored photographs by Felice Beato, who was an early visual chronicler of Japan. Taken in the 1860s, these images capture Japanese life right after the country began engaging with the West. Ripa also found an unpublished manuscript from her ancestor, Mathilde Ruinart, a 19th-century artist who lived in Japan and knew Beato. Inspired by these discoveries, Ripa traveled across Japan with a large-format analog camera to emulate their documentary approach. Her book, 'The Yokohama Project', released by GOST Books on September 28, weaves together Beato's photos, Ruinart's texts, and her own work, creating a 150-year visual narrative of Japan.
Key facts
- Giada Ripa discovered 53 hand-colored photographs by Felice Beato in her family home in Piedmont, Italy.
- Beato documented Japanese society in the 1860s, shortly after Japan opened to the Western world.
- Ripa also found an unpublished manuscript by her ancestor Mathilde Ruinart, who lived in Japan in 1867.
- Ripa retraced Beato and Ruinart's footsteps in Japan using an analog large-format camera.
- The Yokohama Project is published by GOST Books on September 28.
- The book includes rice-paper reproductions of Beato's photographs alongside Ripa's images.
- The second chapter features studio portraits of modern Japanese people, including fishmongers, geishas, and fashion designers.
- The project examines changes in Japanese society and landscape over roughly 150 years.
Entities
Artists
- Giada Ripa
- Felice Beato
- Mathilde Ruinart
Institutions
- GOST Books
Locations
- Piedmont
- Italy
- Japan
- Tokyo