The disappearance of a “third place” distinct from home and work has led many curators to acknowledge the need for spaces that foster community and creativity within the accelerating rhythms of everyday life. The upcoming exhibition Terminal, produced by Galen Bullivant, is a collaboration between nomadic gallery Satellite and Datsuijo project space – “a ten-foot hut” in Yanaka, Tokyo. It brings together the visions of Siam Coy from London and Yuka Hirac from Tokyo. Through a blend of street and portrait photography, prosthetics, make-up artistry, and puzzle pieces, the exhibition offers a moment of calm, inviting the audience to reflect on ideas of dystopia, metamorphosis, and the strangeness of the mundane.

Siam Coy began his journey as a street photographer at 15, evolving into a multidisciplinary artist known for his poignant portrait photography, which has been featured in numerous magazines. For Terminal, Siam revisits work created with Noa Senderowicz, who contributed prosthetics and creative direction. Initially titled Dystopia, the project depicts figures drifting around dreamlike urban spaces, post-industrial landscapes, and dimly-lit corridors. “I was looking for a hobby to go along with skating and just being outdoors,” Siam recalls. “Street photography spoke to me the most because I didn’t feel limited and I could make mistakes.” His tone is understated, even casual, matching his effortlessly cool portraits that burst with quiet tension and eroticism.

Siam’s influences stem from friends who share his passion for photography, as well as other mediums. “I make music on the side and often try to incorporate it into my work. Sometimes my work contains references to music; for example, the title Death makes angels of us all… is a lyric from a song by The Doors, which I thought was apt for the image.” Notable recent subjects include John Akokmfrah for Plaster Magazine and Klein for Interlope Magazine.

“Strange things stimulate my imagination,” says Yuka Hirac. Her work is characterised by her “ugly beauty” aesthetic, finding allure in discomfort and imperfection. Growing up in Fukuoka and living in London from 2006 to 2013, it wasn‘t until she returned to Tokyo that she noticed the strangeness of the big city. ”Tokyo is grey, complicated, and eerie,” she says. “As someone from the countryside, it looks like a strange cell, and within this environment, fantasies of artificial beauty and traditionally ‘human’ ideas of beauty overlap.”

The exhibition features work from her latest photo book, Metabolism, which explores the blurred lines between reality and unreality. Its subtitle, ‘The Beginning of Hallucinations’, reflects her concerns about the indistinguishability of truth and fantasy. “I am scared that the distinction is becoming increasingly blurred”, Yuka explains. “It also delves into the spiritual, expressing our daily struggle with memories and trauma, as well as our desire to escape them through inner and outer transformation.”

Yuka enrolled on a make-up course at the London College of Fashion in 2006 and, upon graduating, connected with photographers she admired and collaborated with them. “I was really into performance art and inspired by events held in clubs, churches, and by the club kids,” she recalls. She believes that the people she encountered during that time continue to influence her work.

Her perspective on beauty is deeply influenced by the Buddhist concept of ‘impermanence’ (mujō), which emphasises that all things are in constant flux. Yuka‘s fascination with metamorphosis, online and offline, is also reminiscent of her childhood fascination with insects. “I don’t know if it’s because of where I‘m from, but I love nature. When I was little, I wanted to be an insect researcher, and I would watch insects all day long. The way they change in order to survive is both brave and beautiful,” she concludes. “There is no such thing as one ‘beauty’, and my view of beauty changes every year. I find beauty in things that never retain the same form twice.”

TERMINAL runs Friday 7 and Saturday 8 June at Datsuijo Gallery Space in Yanaka, Tokyo.

Next week (June 7), London Fashion Week June will see the BFC take over the ICA for a celebration of the London-based cultures that help shape British fashion. Shining a spotlight on the diverse communities and individuals at the forefront of the scene today, the takeover centres on an exhibition of photography by Dani d’Ingeo, Stephen Akinyemi and Tami Aftab, built out into a full cultural programme by a panel of guest curators.

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of LFW, the programme is selected by huge names from across London’s creative industries, including poet (and Dazed 100 alum) Kai-Isaiah Jamal, award-winning broadcaster Clara Amfo, and writer and speaker Simran Randhawa. Taking Black culture, South Asian culture, and queer culture as its three starting points, it will respectively explore themes of Black self-love; South Asian textiles and craftsmanship; and queer culture, with a focus on young voices from the trans community.

Rooted in London, these intimate stories will be traced outward to follow their global impact, often catalysed by events like LFW, and the rich international histories that they’re built upon. Aftab’s vivid photos, for example, “highlight the profound impact that South Asian fabric had, and continues to make, on British fashion,” note the exhibition’s organisers. “Whether it’s tie-dye, embroidery, colour-dyed cotton, paisleys or silk, we see textiles from South Asia in all aspects of the British fashion industry. This photo project joyfully celebrates these fabrics and the cultural relevance they hold both historically, with roots often buried by colonialism, and personally, as a connection to culture within the diaspora.”

A series of photographs by Dani d’Ingeo titled On Inès, meanwhile, takes a more concentrated look at the practice of painter Inès Michelotto, following her around her studio and home. “The images highlight the emotional resonance Inès shares with her subjects,” says curator Nimco Kulmiye Hussein of the work. “Her lived experience as a trans woman is central to how she sees the world – her brushstrokes are gentle on the canvas, and her paintings timestamp the existence of the people around her… On Inès celebrates the bonds that fuel the most profound exploration of our queer identities and the cultural changes they inspire.”

Rounding out the exhibition is Akinyemi’s Where the he.art is. “The black experience is one of abundance and nothing but monolithic through the lens of Stephen Akinyemi,” says the curators of the series, which celebrates the beauty of individuality and self-care as it relates to Black identity, and how this is woven into Britain’s cultural fabric. “It is necessary to protect and amplify this work,” they add, “as while history has shown us that these contributions can be misappropriated, we also know the life changing impact that comes with telling our stories through garments, sound and photography and the importance of passing this on to the future generations.” 

“Providing a moment to celebrate our community and tell our story is crucial. This is a love letter to our imagination, our raising up of one another and the powerful way if manifests itself.”

The exhibition of Dani d’Ingeo, Stephen Akinyemi and Tami Aftab’s work, in collaboration with the British Fashion Council, will run at the ICA from June 7 to June 9.