Golden Turtle

In October 2016, photographer Anaïs López travels to Japan. Heavily pregnant and grieving the death of her sister, López is looking for a place that can offer her solace and contemplation. She decides to head to the country’s former capital Kyoto. During a stroll along the city’s Kamo river, she spots a peculiar turtle in the middle of the stream. Its shell is flecked with gold. As soon as the turtle hears the click of López’ camera shutter, though, it dives under a rock.

A Quest

When López returns to the Netherlands, the turtle keeps appearing in dreams. She decides to call the creature Kami, Japanese for ‘deity’. Why did Kami reveal itself to her? The encounter turns into a quest that will take many years. López returns to Japan on multiple occasions, meeting fascinating individuals who each show her a different path. What starts as a chance encounter leads to a layered tale about grief, control, nature, avarice, and the courage to let go.

A Multimedia Story

Using photographs, video, various printing techniques (gyotaku and photopolymer etching), taxidermy animals, archival images, and illustrations by Japanese artist Niwa Yuta, López takes visitors on a unique journey. The exhibition presents this journey as a four-act play, in four different rooms: there’s the initial encounter, the quest, obsession, and the magic of imagination. The final act consists of a 33-minute video, ‘the Turtle and the Monk’.

Anaïs López

Anaïs López is a born storyteller. With her photography and multimedia projects, she invites us into fabled worlds that seem fictitious at first sight, but then turn out to be closer reflections of real life. Her previous project 'The Migrant' was nominated for a Golden Calf at the Nederlands Film Festival and won two prestigious awards: the Dutch Directors Guild’ Best Digital Storytelling award, and a Silver Camera for best storytelling.

Artist's book and Activities

A limited-edition artist’s book will be published in conjunction with the exhibition. The book will contain gyotaku prints, photopolymer etchings, and photographs by Anaïs López, as well as handfull of drawings by Japanese illustrator Niwa Yuta.

Japan Museum SieboldHuis has put together a comprehensive programme of public activities, including live storytelling sessions with López, lectures, workshops, and yoga-meditation sessions.

Collaborations

‘Anaïs López – the Turtle and the Monk’ was produced by Prospektor in cooperation with Japan Museum SieboldHuis. The project was made possible by the Mondriaan Fund, Fonds21, Zabawas, Netherlands Film Fund, Boumeester Foundation, Stichting Oog op Natuur, Fonds Anna Cornelis en Diane van Marel, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Leiden University, Leiden Municipality, the Isaac Alfred Ailion Foundation, Leiden Stad van Ontdekkingen, and the Friends of Japan Museum SieboldHuis, with the assistance of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Leiden’s Stichting Jeugd en Samenleving (JES) was involved in the project’s educational part.