Barrier-free gallery opens in Kagoshima, first exhibition by painter Seira Koga

PUBLISHED Jun 28, 2022

The exhibition of Seira Koga

On June 12, a barrier-free art gallery, Shimoda Gallery, opened in Shimotacho, Kagoshima City. The gallery is housed in a renovated old private house.

Muginome, a welfare co-operative society in Ikenouecho, operates the gallery. Mami Mochihashi, a new member who joined the co-operative this year, initiated the project to create a gallery where individuals in wheelchairs could enjoy the artwork. Preparations began in February. She collaborated with members of the co-operative and local residents to renovate an old traditional Japanese house.

The building area is approximately 80 square meters. The gallery is 22 square meters in size, with no steps, and a ramp was installed at one of the two entrances. In addition to the exhibition area, the gallery has a multi-purpose waiting room, which Mochihashi describes as “a place where people can do things together, such as painting .” The detached building has a garden, surrounded by greenery. The fee for an event starts at 6,000 yen per day, and from 2,500 yen for a solo exhibition.

The first exhibition, “Enrei (縁麗),” by Kagoshima City-based painter Seira Koga, opened on June 12. The show features 35 works by Koga, including her earlier and new paintings, photographs, and collaborative works on the theme of “En (縁),” meaning “fate” or “connection.” Gyokuryu Green Campus on the second floor of the Co-op Gyokuryu is concurrently hosting the same exhibition. It runs until July 12.

Mochihashi hopes that the gallery will become a place where people with or without disabilities can connect with each other through art, transcending barriers.

Opening hours: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays and Fridays. Parking is available at the Sekiyoshino Bussan-kan parking lot.

  • The exterior of Shimoda Gallery

  • The exhibition “Enrei” at Shimoda Gallery

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