Tokyo Before/After: NGMA exhibition traces a century of change through photographs
NGMA Delhi hosts 'Tokyo Before/After', a photo exhibition spanning nearly 100 years of Tokyo's history, from pre-war streets to contemporary views.
The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in New Delhi is hosting 'Tokyo Before/After', an exhibition that uses around 80 photographs to trace nearly a century of Tokyo's evolution. The show, organised with the Japan Foundation, opened on September 3 and runs until September 19.
The photographs are drawn from two distinct periods: the 1930s and 1940s, and the 2010s onwards. Together, they reveal how the city's streets, buildings, and people have changed, while also highlighting elements of everyday life and cultural memory that have persisted.
Works by celebrated Japanese photographers, including Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki, are on display. The exhibition was originally produced for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and its New Delhi edition marks the first Japan Foundation Travelling Exhibition to be held at NGMA.
Sanjeev Kishor Goutam, Director General of NGMA, noted that a city is shaped by both its present appearance and its memories. He said the exhibition allows visitors to encounter Tokyo through two distinct moments and to discover the subtle continuities between memory, transformation, and human experience.
Koji Sato, Director General of The Japan Foundation in New Delhi, added that photography offers a unique lens for understanding a city, preserving moments of transformation and revealing how different generations have perceived the same place over time.
The opening ceremony took place on September 2, with Jinichi Kadowaki, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan in India, and Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in attendance.