Fifteen Views by Japanese Women Photographers, Bunjil Place

Curated by Lesley A. Martin, Takeuchi Mariko, and Pauline Vermare

Fifteen Views by Japanese Women Photographers spotlights the work of Japanese women photographers from the past seventy years. Offering an electrifying expansion of our understanding of Japanese photographic history, this exhibition is a much-needed counterpoint, complement, and challenge to the established canon, and to fill critical gaps in the history of the medium. These works serve as testaments to the liberating nature of self-representation and self-expression and to the importance of photography as a medium to share one’s own story—to be heard and seen.

This restorative survey presents a wide range of photographic approaches and perspectives, showcasing key images, installation-based works, video, and photobooks that reflect on their creators’ lives and Japanese society at large. With a focus on work produced from the 1950s to now, this exhibition presents an intergenerational sampling of 15 artists. Many of them have been recognized for their vital contributions; others have developed unique and important practices without substantial international recognition. 

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Featuring the work of Hara Mikiko, Imai Hisae, Ishikawa Mao, Ishiuchi Miyako, Katayama Mari, Kawauchi Rinko, Narahashi Asako, Ninagawa Mika, Nishimura Tamiko, Okabe Momo, Okanoue Toshiko, Ryū Shima, Shiga Lieko, Tokiwa Toyoko, Watanabe Hitomi, Yamazawa Eiko.

Pauline Vermare is the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator, Photography, Brooklyn Museum. Previously, she served as the cultural director of Magnum Photos in New York, and curator at the International Center of Photography and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Takeuchi Mariko is a photography critic, curator, and professor at Kyoto University of the Arts. Previously, she served as visiting researcher at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and at the National Museum of Art, Osaka.

Lesley A. Martin is executive director of Printed Matter. Formerly, she was the creative director of Aperture, where she served as editor on more than one hundred books on photography, and founding publisher of The PhotoBook Review.

This exhibition is in connection with the publication and international touring exhibition I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers 1950s to Now (Aperture, 2024). This version is organized by Aperture in collaboration with Contact, Tokyo. Support provided by Ishibashi Foundation, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, and 1970 Japan World’s Exposition Memorial Fund. Aperture’s touring exhibitions are supported by The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc.

Image credit: Okabe Momo, Untitled, from Ilmatar, 2020, courtesy the artist.