7th November 2025 – Exhibition

This November, SO Fine Art Editions is proud to present Kwaidan – Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn, an international exhibition of contemporary printmaking and photography by 20 Japanese and 20 Irish-based artists, consisting of a sumptuous array of visual interpretations of Kwaidan, the well-known book of ghost stories published in 1904 by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), also known as Koizumi Yakumo. The exhibition offers a visual retelling of ghostly tales from Japanese folklore, translated through the lenses of modern artists. This exhibition forms part of Dublin Gallery Weekend 2025.
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SPECIAL EVENTS as part of Dublin Gallery Weekend 2025
Exhibition opening: Fri 07 Nov: 18.00 – 20.00
Join us for the launch of Kwaidan – Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn on Friday 7th November. All welcome.

Artists from Ireland
Yoko Akino / Ailbhe Barrett / Nuala Clarke / Niamh Flanagan / Richard Gorman / Richard Lawlor / Stephen Lawlor / Sharon Lee / Kate MacDonagh / Alice Maher / Eimearjean McCormack / James McCreary / Ed Miliano / Niall Naessens / Kelvin Mann / David Quinn / Barbara Rae / Robert Russell / Amelia Stein / Dominic Turner

Artists from Japan
Kanami Hano / Yoko Hara / Jin Hirosawa / Aya Ito / O JUN / Mayumi Kimura / Chie Matsui / Seiichiro Miida / Yuuka Miyajima / Shoji Miyamoto / Junko Ogawa / Shoko Osugi / Yuki Saito / Michael Schneider / Sudi / Azusa Takahashi / Yo Takahashi / Kanako Watanabe / Toshiya Watanabe / Katsutoshi Yuasa

SEE ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES HERE

In 2017, Irish artist Stephen Lawlor brought an exhibition of works to Tokyo based on the poetry of W.B. Yeats. It was here that he first heard of the writer, translator and teacher Lafcadio Hearn. Together with fellow artists Kate MacDonagh and Ed Miliano they formed a working group and began to develop an exhibition inspired by the writings of Hearn.

Ireland is traditionally famous for storytelling, which is deeply reflected in the country’s folklore and culture. Through his early life in Ireland, Lafcadio Hearn absorbed the tradition of storytelling, honed his skills as a young writer in the United States and subsequently wrote his best known works in Japan.

From delicate lithographs to bold photographic works, the show offers interpretations that are eerie, poetic, and deeply atmospheric. These haunting stories of faceless spirits, spectral blossoms, and cursed voices, take on new life in the hands of some of the most exciting contemporary artists working in both countries.

Highlights Include:

• Alice Maher’s surreal rendering of Rokuro-kubi, reimagining the floating goblin heads , their intertwined hair representing the forest in which they dwell, creating “a great knot of evil intent’’.
• Katsutoshi Yuasa’s reflection on impermanence and cherry blossoms in Jiu-roku-zakura.
• Shoji Miyamoto’s poignant homage to the tragic tale of Mimi-nashi-Hōïchi.
• Multiple interpretations of Mujina, the faceless ghost who haunts lonely travellers, rendered with eerie grace.

Some of these tales are ancient, some just local folklore, but Hearn has woven them into a language that can joyously be translated into visual form.

The objective of this Kwaidan exhibition is to draw more serious attention to Lafcadio Hearn in Ireland and to elevate his work more fully into the pantheon of great Irish writing, where his extraordinarily powerful fiction, non-fiction and journalism so justly deserves to be. Through an extensive touring schedule in Japan and Ireland, the exhibition will also bring the two countries into closer cultural contact and will build on the aspirations set out in ‘Taking Forward Partnership with Shared Ambition’, the Joint Statement between the Governments of Ireland and Japan that was issued in June of 2022.

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In partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Irish Japan Chamber of Commerce, Culture Ireland, Office of Public Works in Ireland and SO Fine Art Editions, the list of exhibiting opportunities has reached sixteen venues across Ireland, Japan and the UK.

Exhibition supported by: