Photographing Perfect Home in Kanazawa

I photographed the exhibition Perfect Home by Do Ho Suh at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. The work became part of a The large-format Exhibition catalogue, now available through Idea Books.

The catalogue offers a visual walk through Suh’s site-specific installations. Through photography, it reflects on how space can shift between personal memory and shared experience.

Capturing Space and Material

Do Ho Suh’s works often take the form of architectural spaces made from thin, translucent fabric. These structures recreate private homes while questioning ideas of inside and outside, as well as public and private space.

While photographing the exhibition, I focused on this sense of duality. The fabric removes weight and permanence, yet it holds strong emotional presence. Details disappear, and with them, the idea of ownership shifts from personal to collective.

A Visual Narrative of the Exhibition

Most of the catalogue was photographed on site in Japan. My aim was to show both the full scale of the installations and the finer details within them. The large fabric houses invite viewers to move through space rather than observe it from a distance.

The photographs follow this movement. They document how the works change depending on light, angle, and proximity, allowing the exhibition to unfold page by page.

Texts and Context

Written contributions by curator Hiromi Kurosawa, Yoshikazu Nango, and Felicity D. Scott place Suh’s work into a broader cultural and architectural context. Their texts explore how we occupy space and how ideas of home differ across cultures and societies.

Together with the photographs, the catalogue becomes a layered record. It connects individual memory with shared structures and anonymous space.

The Museum Setting

The exhibition took place at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, the building is defined by transparency and openness.

Its circular layout reduces hierarchy and encourages movement. This architectural approach aligns closely with Suh’s work, where boundaries remain open and space stays fluid.

Do Ho Suh and the Idea of Home

Do Ho Suh is widely known for using fabric to recreate architectural spaces. His work reflects on how architecture shapes memory, identity, and belonging.

The Perfect Home catalogue documents this process through photography and print. It becomes a form of preservation, not of solid structures, but of experiences and moments tied to place.

Catalogue Details

Perfect Home
184 pages, color and black-and-white illustrations
24 × 32 cm, hardcover
Japanese / English
ISBN 9784903205403