The Reference showcasing Kenji Chiga’s photography work in SEOUL

The Reference Seoul featuring Kenji Chiga’s work.

For Chiga Kenji, photography is “the best tool for a swindler.”

In visualizing the structure and psychology of It‘s Me Scam (オレオレ詐欺), a form of phone fraud widespread in Japanese society, Chiga grounds his work in thorough research into real-life cases. At the same time, he creates fictional characters by altering his own face, using this process to visualize the very mechanisms of imitation and disguise.

This approach reveals how photography can represent truth while also showing how easily reality can be manipulated and distorted.

Through Chiga’s investigation into the manipulative operations of photography—not merely in representing reality but in constructing it—viewers are prompted to consider more deeply the complexity and ambiguity of the photographic image, suspended between fact and fiction.

𝙎𝙤-𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡, 𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡
Chiga Kenji, Cho Moonhee, Song Sanghyun, Suzuki Nozomi

Curated by Kim Jeong Eun
Graphic Design by ao graphics
Fabrication and Installation by Jang Junho
Coordinated by Kim Sein
Hosted by The Reference
Supported by Arts Council Korea, T3 Photo Festival Tokyo
* This exhibition was produced with the support of “2025 ARKO Partners Visual Art”

⟪쏘-리얼, 써리얼 So-real, Surreal⟫
치가 켄지, 조문희, 송상현, 스즈키 노조미
2025. 5. 16 — 6. 15