MN: How emotion and expression are directly connected. YY: What drew you to this particular medium? MN: When I was about 10 years old, I used an ordinary point-and-shoot camera to photograph my own reflections in the mirror or my much-loved Barbie dolls on top of volcanic rocks, which I also loved! YY: And what kind of pictures were you taking? I did a lot of things like drawing and crafting but taking photographs became a special thing. I think it was a very primitive desire, a feeling close to impatience. My father was a theatre director and my mother was an actress, so I wanted to become a person who can express something as soon as possible. When did you first realise that you were addicted to photography? Yuka Yamaji: When we were walking together in London on your recent visit, we kept losing you whenever something would catch your eye and you would stop to shoot it. Ninagawa has published extensively, including nearly 100 photobooks to date, and her work is held in many prominent collections, which include the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Huis Marseille, Amsterdam and UBS Art Collection. In 2014, she was appointed to the executive board of the 2020 Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games by virtue of her contributions to Japanese art and culture. Since then, Ninagawa has gone on to set new museum attendance records in Japan with her travelling exhibition Mika Ninagawa: earthly flowers, heavenly colors in 2008-10, as well as in Taiwan with her first overseas retrospective, which was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei in 2016.īranching out into filmmaking in 2006, Ninagawa has directed two successful feature films to date – Sakuran (2007) and Helter Skelter (2012) – and is set to release two new films in 2019. Her work was first exhibited outside Japan in 1997 at the iconic Parisian concept store Colette, and in 2001, at the age of 29, she received the 26th Kimura Ihei Award (Japan’s most prestigious photography award). Daughter of acclaimed theatre director Yukio Ninagawa, she first came to prominence in the late 1990s as one of the leading lights of Japan’s ‘Girly Photo’ movement. In Mika Ninagawa: In Conversation, Phillips’ Yuka Yamaji and the artist discussed beginnings, her springtime addiction to sakura and why she photographs.įor over two decades, Mika Ninagawa has walked her own path, becoming the first and only woman photographer to have attained pop icon status in Japan. Through this portal, we are invited to enter Ninagawa’s distinctive world, populated by vivid colours and dense imagery. In this dynamic work, seemingly contrasting notions of life and death, natural and artificial, traditional and contemporary converge. The subject sakura is one of the artist’s signature motifs. Ninagawa was recently appointed as one of the executive board members for the 2020 Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, by virtue of her experiences and insights in arts and culture.In our first Evening edition of ULTIMATE, we are thrilled to premiere earthly flowers, heavenly colors, 2018, a unique installation by Mika Ninagawa. Released in 2012, her second feature ‘Helter Skelter’ was one of the highest-grossing film in Japan that year and was awarded the Kaneto Shindo Silver Prize. Her most popular retrospective exhibition ‘Mika Ninagawa: Earthly Flowers, Heavenly Colors’ toured several museums throughout Japan, attracting over 180K visitors. Ninagawa received the prestigious Kimura Ihei Photography Award in 2001 and made her critically acclaimed directorial debut at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival and the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2007. She is formally represented by Tomio Koyama’s influential art gallery. Popular among celebrities, her portfolio includes personalities from Chiaki Kuriyama to Beyoncé, and her distinct and vibrant aesthetic has been influential around the world. Currently living in Tokyo, Mika Ninagawa is one of Japan’s most celebrated film and art photography artist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |