Rolls-Royce Presents Its ‘Black Badge’ in New Photo Exhibit=
Running through July 13, ‘Black Badge: Tokyo After Hours’ exhibit features three photographers, Black Badge trio of cars.
Emerging from the ashes of World War II, Japan made great leaps and bounds to become an economic and technological powerhouse in the 1970s through the early 1990s. Nowhere is this more apparent than Tokyo, with its neon-lit streets and buildings, bustling energy, and a culture unlike any other.
Thus, it’s the perfect place to shoot a photography exhibition or two, like the one Rolls-Royce commissioned not too long ago. Three photographers were given one of the brand’s trio of Black Badge models to take around Tokyo, with the best photos assembled at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Tokyo for its Black Badge: Tokyo After Hours exhibit, running now through July 13.
“Just as Black Badge aesthetics are at home in the city of Tokyo, these amazing Rolls-Royces have very much struck a chord with our Japanese clients – just over 40% of Ghost, Wraith and Dawn models we deliver in Japan are in the guise of their Black Badge alter egos,” said Rolls-Royce Asia Pacific director Paul Harris. “The visual diversity of the Tokyo cityscape speaks of the diverse enterprises that have brought success to Rolls-Royce’s Tokyo clientele – tech and trade on one hand, creative industries and traditional arts on the other. I thank and congratulate the photographers on capturing the essence of Black Badge in Tokyo so well.”
The trio of photographers on exhibit include Brit Mark Riccioni, who had already shot another Rolls-Royce photo collection, Phantom Off-Duty, on the streets of London. This time, though, he took a red Dawn Black Badge through the streets of the Tokyo neighborhood of Akihabara.
The vibrant street life in the city’s gaming and technology epicenter gives way to a trek through Tokyo Bay and into the fashionable high streets of Nakameguro through Riccioni’s lens. No matter where it goes, though, the Dawn Black Badge fits in wonderfully.
A half-hour west of Riccioni’s lens is that of Darren Chan in Shinjuku. Like Tokyo, Chan’s native Singapore is awash in an eternal glow, making his stop in Shinjuku with the Wraith Black Badge an appropriate place to begin.
He, too, leaves the bright lights behind for the highways around Tokyo Bay, only he heads off to Daikoku Futo to meet with a Ghost Black Badge in the same place where all sorts of mad and wild things gather. After trading seats, Chan winds up near the marketplaces in Tsukiji to cap off his night.
In another Wraith Black Badge, Tokyo native Yoshifumi Ogawa begins his work behind the camera in Ginza, a shopaholic’s delight with tons of luxury department stores and boutiques.
Once away from the glitz and glamour of Ginza, his camera captures both the Wraith and Ghost Black Badges winding their way through Tokyo’s highways and over the Rainbow Bridge, all against the backdrop of towering monoliths draping temples and moats below in shadow.
The collection of 18 photos on display were shot between 2017 and 2019. The subjects of the exhibit will also be displayed at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Tokyo until July 13.
Photos: Rolls-Royce
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