Soh Souen’s first book, “Handle with Care,” offers a cross-sectional insight into his artistic practice leading up to today.
　　

Born in 1995, Soh Souen examines aspects of our lives through its relationship to the body within his paintings, installations and performances he practices internationally. “If possible, I want to learn how to move our bodies, not to harn, but to avoid breaking what is precious.”  With such spirit in mind, Souen has proactively staged performances in the recent years, in which he lodges a raw egg, a symbol for life, between the dents of the bodies and moves so as not to drop the egg. Among these performances are, “The Egg” for which performers collaboratively explore the fragile relationship between the self and the others as well as the state of a body that does not destroy what is precious based on the rule: to lodge the raw egg, a symbol for life, between the dents of the bodies and to move so as not to drop it; and “Eggsercise” where the performer alone spends time trying not to drop the egg by holding it between the body and objects like walls, glass, or plants.

“I want to untangle ‘me’, the shell that has hardened as I live on my life. […] Bound by the egg, when we move within the small gaps, will we be able to accept one another without mistaking what is precious?” To poetically depict this emotion poured into the ephemeral and traceless performances in the form of a book, this volume is composed so the photographs and stills from video archives of the performances, installations, paintings, along with notes and drawings related to his works all fluently connect and resonate with each other. Ushered by images and words, this book follows Souen’s train of thought, exploring fundamental questions through the body.

“Is this a real egg? How do you continue the performance if you drop the egg?”
When I met Soh Souen, this was the question that came out of me.

But in reality, I wanted to ask “Why do you try to gently and intimately cradle this raw thing enveloped in a rigid shell with one or two performers?”
I also wanted to say “I have never been loved by any person the way this egg is loved.”

This is an expression so delicate it gradually breaks down as we attempt to put it into words. I want this book to be in the hands of many.

─ Chiharu Shiota (artist)
　

　
Size: 210 x 148 mm/  Hard Cover with saddle stitch / 96p +24P

Text: Soh Souen, Emiko Yoshioka, Koki Yamamoto

Design: Akiko Wakabayashi

Coordinate: Yumi Nomura, Naoko Higashi

Cooperation: HIRO OKAMOTO

Languages: Japanese / English

Price: 3,200 yen

Publisher: torch press

ISBN：978-4-907562-50-2

Year: 2024
　
　
Soh Souen
Born in 1995 Fukuoka, Japan. Graduated from Faculty of Art, Kyoto Seika University in 2019. Soh Souen has been presenting paintings, installations, and performance that examine phenomena related to lives through the relationships with the body not only in Japan but also overseas. He’s been developing his own career as a contemporary artist by collaborating with Sara Milio, an artist in the Netherlands for a performance project which began during COVID-19, and also performing with Agathe Naito’s installation work at Ginza Maison Hèrmes Le Forum. For his major exhibitions, “Winds of Artist in Residence 2022” at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum; “It’s been breaking, and still breaking (yet not broken)” at rin art association; “FATHOM−Shiota Chiharu, Kanazawa Sumi, Soh Souen” at Kyoto Seika University Gallery Terra-S, and many others. Participated in the Artists in Residency program at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in 2022. In 2024, the installation work, Bellybutton and Breathing entered the collection of Fukuoka Art Museum.