Picto New York presents 妖怪と風景 Yōkai and Landscapes, an exhibition of photographs by Yuji Watanabe, curated by Charli Sas.

Have you ever glimpsed a figure on an empty road, then looked again and found no one? Or looked into a mirror a little too long, until the face looking back didn’t quite seem to be yours? Japanese folklore has a name for what appears in those moments: yōkai.

Photographed on 8×10 Polaroid, Watanabe’s Yōkai series gives bodily form to spirits, creatures, and transformed objects drawn from folklore. Watanabe’s Yōkai series is shown alongside a new body of landscapes photographed across Japan, shot on ONE INSTANT peel-apart film, unfolding like an emaki (絵巻), a Japanese illustrated handscroll. Mountains, forests, caves, waterfalls, and still water become places where something may have just disappeared, or may be about to appear.

A soundscape by Pinkcourtesyphone, sound artist and composer Richard Chartier, runs through the exhibition, extending this sense of uncertainty beyond the image.

On view: October 15- December 15, 2026, Mon- Friday 10AM- 6PM, Weekends by appointment