" INORI " of Naemi Ueta
INORI is a Japanese word that means "Prayer". But it is also the will to express with images the most common and profound emotions that inhabit our interior, emotions that do not understand neither race nor borders. And beyond, INORI is, the art of accepting both good and bad sentiments that continually emanate from our soul. It is the manifestation of the major darkness for those who walk in darkness, but also the greatest enlightenment for those who are in the light at the same moment.
I am Japanese and I have lived in Andalusia for more than 20 years. I feel the imperative need to transmit to the world the great inner wealth that this land cultivates a melting pot of different cultures. I would like us to experience together the meaning of life more Jondo through this great art, "El Flamenco". Because there is no doubt that flamenco is the art that best represents those feelings so common among human beings, with extraordinary honesty, without hiding and with the courage to fight with oneself, against feelings of evil, anger, hatred, rage, etc. or simply of solitude, through an internal expression of "Quejio"(Sorrow), free of violence and impotence. Its deep truth, its free spirit, has a universal goal: to share this art among people of different cultural origins and discover, step by step, the harmony of life among all within its rhythm.
The photographs that I present to you tell stories that I interpret from my point of view as a woman from the Far East. I try to capture, accept and accompany the solitude of each one with a universal language, in the search for light from the darkness. It is a way of understanding life, a manifestation for peace, together with flamenco: an anthropology project with my prayer "INORI"
Naemi Ueta
What is Project "INORI" ?
With INORI, Naemi focuses on capturing the intimacy of the most representative figures of flamenco art in Spain wherever she finds it. She uses the documentary point of view with subtle artistic contributions, without seeking pretentious values that reward her as a photographer. Passionate about photography and a lover of flamenco, she found in the great maestro Manuel Santiago Maya "Manolete" the first inspiration to capture and reproduce the universal values of flamenco art. Her images are always taken outside the show, in the privacy of each artist, where creation is born from silence and solitude; where the essence of flamenco rests, where the transformation of life in art arises - that place from where the harmony between the earth, space and time emanates: It is a flamenco prayer (INORI). A project that emerged after feeling the rhythm of Andalusia for many years. The Andalusian culture is her great influence as a melting pot of races and religions, without anyone losing their identity. The photography of Naemi Ueta is an enthusiastic contribution in which the feelings are shared in a unique and common way by all. In it we discover images loaded with an immense universal beauty and valued anywhere art is respected.
Exhibition INORIin the media
"40 years after those wonderful cantes (flamenco songs) prayed by Porrina that shocked the editors of the time, they took shape in an exhibition of Naemi Ueta"
Jun 2016 published by Pablo Rodríguez in the IDEAL newspaper of Granada
"Japanese photographer Naemi Ueta expresses in images the intimacy and magic of flamenco"
Jun 2016 published in the newspaper LA VANGUARDIA.
"I, who have felt god so many times, and devil in many others, I kneel before its author, Naemi Ueta.
Her Inori, her litany, her prayer has enveloped me, has captivated me. Before all those souls captured in their takes, my spirit is overwhelmed and expanded at the same time. Her way of showing us the essence of each of the flamencos that have been placed before her eyes comforts. The author presents the person, not the artist. No spotlights, no stage, no audience. It offers us a communion between flamenco feeling and the beat of life.
Seeing her work, it is understood why La Venta de Vargas has stripped for the first time for her. Why, for the first time, these walls, which have felt so much and so much have wept, have gladly offered to collect this photographic exhibition. For ten days these walls have been filled with reflections, reflections of loneliness, truth, emotions, magic, compass, life ... flamenco
After seeing the sample I could not help but go to Naemi and take off my hat. Ole! "
"La Fragua" Magazine of the Flamenca cultural association / Juan Silva
Canal Sur Televisión broadcast its exclusive report of 2 minutes and 10 seconds for its news in Venta de Vargas, Nov.2016