Ekō - Japan in two visual narratives

The National Maritime Museum will present the exhibition Ekō – Japan in two visual narratives from March 5, 2026.

In two visual narratives, early photographs of Japan from the museum's own collection, including those by Felice Beato, echo in the contemporary work of photographer and visual artist Anaïs López.  

Photography flourished in Japan after the country opened its ports to international trade in 1859. As gateways to areas still unknown to the West, port cities were inextricably linked to photography. The photographs collected there by Dutch consul Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (1833-1916) are among the oldest in Japan. De Graeff did not take photographs himself, but was indispensable to the most influential foreign photographer of the time: Felice Beato (1832-1909). From a European perspective, the British-Italian Beato created a carefully staged image of Japan that met the expectations of a Western audience. Beato deliberately leaves signs of growing modernization out of the picture. The dissemination and repetition of his images creates a visual blueprint of a supposedly exotic country. That blueprint continues to influence photographers and artists to this day.

When artist Anaïs López traveled to Japan in 2016, she too unconsciously carried Beato's images in her mind. In search of the golden turtle Kami, López followed the Kamo River and ventured into the mountains. Beato's images resonate in her photography like an echo (Ekō) from the distant past. During her search, she is inspired by a Japanese artist and centuries-old techniques, after which a new visual language unfolds. In The Turtle and the Monk, López turns her gaze inward in a layered narrative about grief, the urge to control nature, and the magic of imagination.

The consul and the photographer

The exhibition features the three photo albums that Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek left behind from his time in Japan (collection of the National Maritime Museum). Among them are the oldest album produced by Beato in Japan (1863) and a precursor to his famous Photographic Views of Japan—albums of souvenir photos that he began marketing in 1868. Beato collaborated with Japanese experts from (block printing) workshops, who colored the photos by hand. This practice built on existing Japanese image traditions.

The photos in De Graeff's albums are of great cultural and historical value. They were produced during the Bakumatsu, the period in which Japan rapidly transformed from a feudal state into a modern empire. De Graeff's albums serve as a primary source for research into early photography in Japan. In the exhibition, the museum highlights the role that the Dutch diplomat himself played in the creation of these early images.

Anaïs López – The Turtle and the Monk

Parallel to this, the work of Anaïs López (1981) from The Turtle and the Monk is on display. Using photography combined with special printing techniques, such as gyotaku and photopolymer etching, López takes visitors on a unique journey.

López creates multimedia narratives at the intersection of fiction and documentary, addressing universal themes from a personal perspective. For each project, the born storyteller immerses herself in intensive research, which she then translates into a layered and visual narrative. She takes her audience to fabulous worlds that are often closer to the truth than they seem at first glance. López is considered a pioneer in her field and has won awards for her work both at home and abroad. De Migrant was nominated for a Golden Calf and won the DirectorsNL Award for Digital Storytelling and the Silver Camera Award for Storytelling. 

Artist's book and notebook 

An artist's book of the same name, The Turtle and the Monk, is available for purchase at the museum shop of the National Maritime Museum, among other locations. Also available is In In the Light of the Rising Sun. The photo albums of Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 1857–1869, written by Sara Keijzer, curator of the exhibition. This second publication in a series of booklets about objects from the collection of the National Maritime Museum is based on new research into the three photo albums of Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek that are on display in the exhibition. 

Press images

Practical information 

The exhibition Ekō – Japan in two visual narratives  will be on display from March 5, 2026, through August 30, 2026, at the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam.

The Turtle and the Monk is produced by Prospektor.