Where The River Brats Are (Main Bar and Sushi Bar)
Saturday, September 4 to Friday, October 2, 2010

It is summer and the season of the River Brats is upon us.

Underneath cloudy skies, their laughing voices echo off the shimmering surface of the water, melding with the disjointed chorus of cicadas. Some chase fish with a net in hand and others plunge from bridges, sending plumes of spray skyward. Sadly, this age-old scenery is becoming harder and harder to find - both because these playful daytime fixtures of summer have found other pursuits and due to a dearth of habitat that can host them. Dams have, like so many guillotines, bisected many of the nation's rivers. Ponds, once home to thriving communities of fish and wildlife, have been buried and, euphemistically, “reclaimed.” Lush riverbanks covered in reeds have been covered in drab, dispiriting of concrete. Murayama has made it his personal mission to show the public the natural wonders of rivers and waterways that are vanishing from Japan in hopes that the echoing laughter of River Brats will continue to live on.

Profile
Born in Yokohama in 1971, Yoshiaki Murayama worked taking promotional photographs for television and radio as well as a staff photographer for an agricultural publication before embarking on a freelance career. His work takes as its motif where people and nature intersect. Since 2000, Murayama's photography has focused on the theme of “River Brats: Creatures at the Water's Edge.”

The Exhibition Committee