About the Japanese photographer, Miyuki OKUYAMA

Miyuki OKUYAMA made her B.A. and her M.A., at The University of Alabama. Her images are often taken with the perspective of an expatriate Japanese. For more than 20 years, she has been living away from home and it was after she moved away from home when she started photographing. Yet, her creations are deeply rooted into her childhood in Tohoku, northeastern Japan. Being away from home became one of her most important drives for photography. Through photographing, she seeks connections to her origin.
When she was settling down in her new home, as a reaction to the new environment, she tried photographing using alternatives ways (a self-made pinhole cameras, shooting self-built models etc.), as an improvisation for photographing actual home. Compared to her home in a rural village, her new home seemed thoroughly modernized and overly organized, leaving little space for raw and improvised places to feed human emotions. In the photography, she wanted to try creating alternative realities, which may re-connect her to her familiar world and childhood memories.
In 2011, the devastating earthquake hit northern Japan, causing the Tsunami and the nuclear power plant explosion. These events in her homeland urged her to face the fact that one’s home is not a stable place and shocked her innocently unsuspecting idea that her home would be there forever. After that, she started new series: travel photos shot on her way from Holland to Tohoku with trains and a ferry through Eurasia to measure the physical and psychological distance, and an ongoing project on her slowly changing home. At the same time, she tackled documenting the Japanese-Dutch war children born of the WW2. Through working on these series, she hopes to capture the world directly surrounding herself, through her own views as an expatriate.

Photo publications by Miyuki OKUYAMA

  • 'Land of the Setting Sun' (2013, hand made)
    'Dear japanese' (2014)
    'The Akahata' (2017, Japanese newspaper)
    'At Dusk' (2022)

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The photos in 'At Dusk' by Miyuki OKUYAMA give insight into her inner life and her states of mind as she moved from one culture to another. The images are inspired by fragmented childhood memories, long repressed fears, and vaguely remembered nightmares.
0,00 € Weight 0.4 kg
In her book 'Dear Japanese', Miyuki OKUYAMA documents from a personal perspective, recording compatriots abroad. It consists of portraits, places and landscapes containing associative Japanese elements which often feel displaced within the environment.
55,00 € * Weight 0.7 kg
The self-published photo publication 'Land of the Setting Sun' - born out of the intense experience of the tsunami in her home country - was published in an edition of only 100 copies. Born in Tohoku, the photographer now lives in the Netherlands.
18,00 € *

Exhibtions (a selection)
  • 2010: 'That Shimmering Beast', The Empty Quarter, Dubai; 'Over schaal en tijd', Plaatsmaken, Arnhem; 'Nightward', MK galerie, Rotterdam
    2011: 'Ikoku Tokai', Coalface Lab, Genk, BE; 'MärklinWorld,' Kunsthal KADE, Amersfoort
    2012: ‘Disturbia', CODA museum, Aperdoorn and at Kunstenlab, Deventer, NL; 'Who’s Afraid of Oriental Girls', De Mondriaantoren, Amsterdam; 'MK Award Fundraising Show', Rotterdam; 'Shadow Performers', Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam
    2013: 'Delhi Photo Festival 2013', Print Exhibition; 'Afterimage', web exhibition, Gurdian Garden, Tokyo; 'Passages', Velp, NL
    2014: 'Doh Mix Meh Up: Diaspora and Identity in Art', University of Oxford; 'Obscura Festival/Asian Women Photographers Showcase',
    Penang, Malaysia; 'Phantom Reality Reset', TETEM, Enschede; 'HOE=HET NU', ACEC, Apeldoorn, NL
    2015: 'Spine Photobook Fesitival', Dummy Award, Stockholm; 'Encontros da Imagem book exhibition', Braga, Portugal; 'Dear Japanese', Nagasaki Peace Museum; 'Reminders Project Stronghold', Tokyo; 'Foto Noviembre', Santa Cruz de Tenerife
    2016: 'Dear Japanese,' Ritsumeikan Peace Museum, Kyoto and at Museum Bronbeek, Arnhem; 'Feria de Libros de Fotos de Autor', Buenos Aires
    2017: 'Dear Japanese', Cortona On The Move, Italy; 'At Dusk', Galerie NUN, Arnhem
    2018: 'Pale Red Dot', VOID, Athens Photo Festival
    2019: PHOTO IS:RAEL, Tel Aviv; Swiss Photo-Three Award, Lugano; 'Dear Japanese', Platform for Humanistic Photography, Ede, NL; 'Unyielding Gaze', Kuala Lumpur Photo Award for journalistic portraits
    2020: 'Nightfall' Museum Arnhem; 'Reimagining War', Osaka
    2021: 'Stateless: war displaced Filipino Japanese', Tokyo
    2022: The 6th Addis Foto Fest, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Salon der Künstler, Museum Kurhaus KleveFotografia Europea + Skinnerboox Book Award presentation, Reggio Emilia, Italy
    Jakarta International Photo Festival, Indonesia
Awards
  • 2019: Winner at Swiss Photo Three, Lugano
    2022: Winner at Fotografia Europe + Skinnerboox BOOK AWARD with 'At Dusk'