Ishiuchi miyako: postwar shadows

Born in and raised in Yokosuka, a port city located south of Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture, Ishiuchi Miyako left home and studied textiles before beginning her photography career.

Miyako ishiuchi yokosuka story

Self-taught, Ishiuchi often uses the camera to deal with extremely personal subject matter. One of the few female Japanese photographers working in the s, she gained recognition early, winning the prestigious Kimura Ihei Memorial Photographic Award in As a child, Ishiuchi was deeply affected by the American presence there. The city was impoverished and often dangerous, especially for young women.

Tension between Japanese residents and Americans on the base was ever-present. Located just outside the Yokosuka Naval Base, the building was demolished in , marking the end of her project to photograph the city. Ishiuchi went on to explore traces of time on objects and the human body, capturing subjects such as the hands and feet of women born in and close-ups of scars from illness or aging.

She then completed projects centered on the belongings of atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and of artist Frida Kahlo. The recipient of the Hasselblad Award in , Ishiuchi has been the subject of two solo retrospectives, at the Getty and the Yokohama Museum of Art. Her work is in the collections of major museums worldwide. Image 1 of 1.

SW Washington, DC Works in Japan Modern :. Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.