Aperture Releases Expansive Survey Exploring the Untold Stories of Japanese Women Photographers

Aperture announces the release of I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now, a much-needed critical and celebratory counterpoint to the historical precedents and established canon of Japanese photography.

This restorative history presents a wide range of photographic approaches on the lived experiences and perspectives of women in Japanese society. With twenty-five artist portfolios and more than five hundred images, including an illustrated bibliography, this volume is an electrifying expansion of our understanding of Japanese photography and photo-history. I’m So Happy You Are Here includes contributions from a range of writers, historians, and artists, further contextualizing the photographers’ meaningful place within the history of the medium.

With a focus on material from the 1950s onward, the publication presents an intergenerational sampling of artists, showcasing the diverse range of voices and approaches to the medium. It features well-known artists as well as others who have developed singular styles and important works without substantial public recognition. The featured artists are Hara Mikiko, Ishikawa Mao, Ishiuchi Miyako, Katayama Mari, Kawauchi Rinko, Komatsu Hiroko, Kon Michiko, Nagashima Yurie, Narahashi Asako, Ninagawa Mika, Nishimura Tamiko, Noguchi Rika, Nomura Sakiko, Okabe Momo, Okanoue Toshiko, Onodera Yuki, Sawada Tomoko, Shiga Lieko, Sugiura Kunié, Tawada Yuki, Tokiwa Toyoko, Ushioda Tokuko, Watanabe Hitomi, Yamazawa Eiko, and Yanagi Miwa.

I’m So Happy You Are Here is edited by Pauline Vermare and Lesley A. Martin, with the curator and writer Takeuchi Mariko and photo-historians Carrie Cushman and Kelly Midori McCormick. Three richly illustrated essays provide a historical and contemporary critical framework for understanding the featured work. Additional context is provided by an in-depth illustrated bibliography by Marc Feustel and Russet Lederman; a selection of key writings from leading Japanese curators, critics, and historians, such as Kasahara Michiko, Fuku Noriko, and Yamada Yuri; and writings and interviews by the artists Nagashima Yurie, Okabe Momo, and Tokiwa Toyoko, among others—many of which will be published in translation for the first time. As a long-overdue celebration of Japanese women working in the medium, this publication will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in a more robust history of Japanese photography.

The release coincides with a major exhibition of the same title, debuting at the Rencontres d’Arles, France—on view through September 29, 2024—before traveling to the Fotomuseum Den Haag, Netherlands, in January 2025, and other venues to be announced. I’m So Happy You Are Here is available at aperture.org/books.

 

Public Programs
On Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, the Aperture | IFA Photo Assembly will discuss I’m So Happy You Are Here with Catherine Quan Damman, assistant professor of art history at the Institute of Fine Arts; Lesley A. Martin, former editor at large at Aperture and editor of this title; Pauline Vermare, curator and editor of this title; Yasufumi Nakamori, director of the Asia Society Museum; and featured artist Sugiura Kunié. Details will be available at aperture.org/events.

Pauline Vermare is the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum. She was formerly the cultural director of Magnum Photos in New York and curator at the International Center of Photography and Museum of Modern Art, both in New York. Vermare was also the curator of 10/10 Celebrating Contemporary Japanese Women Photographers for the 2022 Kyotographie International Photography Festival.

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

Takeuchi Mariko is a photography critic, curator, and associate 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. In 2018, Silence and Image: Essays on Japanese Photographers, a collection of her writing, was published in English and Japanese.

Carrie Cushman is the Edith Dale Monson Gallery Director and Curator at the Hartford Art School. She holds a PhD in art history from Columbia University and is a specialist in postwar and contemporary art and photography from Japan.

Kelly Midori McCormick is assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. With Carrie Cushman, she was principal investigator and codirector of the website Behind the Camera: Gender, Power, and Politics in the History of Japanese Photography.

Marc Feustel is a Paris-based independent curator, writer, and editor specializing in Japanese photography.

Russet Lederman is a New York–based writer, editor, and photobook collector.

 

I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now is made possible with generous support from Kering | Women In Motion; Anne Levy Charitable Trust; and Documentary Arts, Inc.

The exhibition is organized by Aperture in collaboration with the Rencontres d’Arles. It is produced with special support from Kering | Women In Motion, Ishibashi Foundation, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, and 1970 Japan World’s Exposition Memorial Fund. Production coordinated in Japan by Sato Masako, curator and founder, Contact, Tokyo.

Aperture’s programs and operations are made possible by the generosity of our board of trustees, our members, and other individuals, and with major support from 7G Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, Documentary Arts, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Ishibashi Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, Henry Luce Foundation, Mailman Foundation, MurthyNAYAK Foundation, Grace Jones Richardson Trust, San Francisco Foundation, Thomas R. Schiff Foundation, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Stuart B. Cooper and R. L. Besson, Kate Cordsen and Denis O’Leary, Thomas and Susan Dunn, Michael Sonnenfeldt, Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts, with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

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Press contacts:
Lauren Van Natten, Aperture, publicity@aperture.org
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