The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art at 26 Wooster Street opens a new exhibition on Friday, November 6, built around one of the most studied photobooks of postwar Japan. PROPS from Barakei: Eikoh Hosoe and Jason Wee pairs Hosoe's photographs of the novelist Yukio Mishima with a new installation and performance by the artist Jason Wee, commissioned by the museum. A free opening reception takes place the night before, Thursday, November 5, from 6 to 8 p.m., and the show stays up through March 14, 2027.

The photographs

Between the autumn of 1961 and the spring of 1962, the photographer Eikoh Hosoe staged a series of images of Mishima in Tokyo, most of them at the writer's Spanish colonial style house. Mishima posed as Hosoe directed, wrapped in a garden hose, holding a mallet, set against painted backdrops and reproductions of Renaissance paintings. The pictures became the photobook Barakei, usually translated as Ordeal by Roses, published in 1963. The high contrast prints carry references to the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and are now read as a record of a volatile moment in Japan: the avant-garde art of the period, the student protests against the 1960 security treaty with the United States, and the country's rapid economic growth.

Many of the Hosoe prints in the show come from the museum's own collection. The exhibition also follows the book through three editions with three different designers: Kohei Sugiura in 1963, Tadanori Yokoo in 1971 and Kiyoshi Awazu in 1984.

The new work

Jason Wee's piece looks at the objects in Hosoe's frames rather than the man. The hose, the mallet, a candle and the painted backdrops come back as metal and fabric prints, mounted inside a spiral of rope and hung on a broken wall frame. The pattern of the rope is an encoded version of a lecture script Wee wrote, and visitors can hear that lecture on headphones in the gallery, so the installation and the historical photographs are meant to be experienced together. The commission includes a performance element as well.

Wee, born in 1979, works between New York and Singapore across photography, installation, architecture, poetry and archival research. His work has been shown at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the Singapore Biennale and the Changwon Sculpture Biennale. He founded and directs Grey Projects, an artist-run library and residency program in Singapore, and has published five books of poetry, among them a finalist for the Singapore Literature Prize.

Hosoe, who lived from 1933 to 2024, was a founder of the Vivo photography collective, which turned away from straight documentary work toward staged, expressive images. He is also known for his collaborations with the Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata, and he directed the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Yamanashi, which he helped found in 1995. The exhibition is curated by Yasufumi Nakamori.

Also on view on Wooster Street

The new show joins three exhibitions already in the galleries. Soft Spaces: Heather Marie Scholl and Eva Wu closes November 15, so the opening night is one of the last chances to see it. Shu Lea Cheang: LOVER LOVE and Hortensia Mi Kafchin: Through Different Eyes both run through January 3, 2027.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum is dedicated to collecting, caring for and presenting art by queer artists. The building has five steps up to the entrance, with a wheelchair lift available, and all galleries are wheelchair accessible.

Hours, cost and how to RSVP

  • Opening reception: Thursday, November 5, 6 to 8 p.m. Free, with an RSVP through the museum's opening page.
  • Exhibition dates: November 6, 2026, through March 14, 2027.
  • Museum hours: Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday, and on Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day, among other holidays.
  • Admission: suggested donation of $10. Members get in free.
  • Address: 26 Wooster Street, between Grand and Canal streets.

Getting there

The museum sits at the southern end of SoHo, a short walk from several Canal Street stations: the N, Q, R and W, the A, C and E, the J and Z, the 6, and the 1 all stop at Canal Street. From the B, D, F and M at Broadway-Lafayette Street, it is about a ten minute walk down Mercer Street to Grand Street.

The practical next step

RSVP for the free Thursday, November 5, reception at the Leslie-Lohman opening page, or plan a visit any Wednesday through Sunday afternoon from November 6 on. Full exhibition details are on the exhibition page, and visitor information is on the museum's visit page.

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