On Thursday, the Japanese artist Yuri Shimojo’s affecting show “Memento Mori” makes its U.S. debut at Praise Shadows Art Gallery, a new space in Brookline, Mass., that aims to exhibit emerging and midcareer artists, as well as mentor young artistic talent in the Boston area. For Shimojo, who splits her time between New York and Kyoto, Japan, and the gallery’s owner, Yng-Ru Chen — who cut her teeth at MoMA PS 1, the Asia Society and Sotheby’s — March 11 is heavy with meaning: It marks the 10th anniversary of Japan’s deadly Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which together claimed nearly 16,000 lives, and which inspired this body of work...
