Works
mama love ©Hideka Tonomura
mama 恋 love
Hideka Tonomura mama love (Photographed 2007 / Published 2008 AKAAKA Art Publishing inc, 2021 Zen Foto Gallery)
“We’re both liars, you and me.
I don’t mind how others view the things I happened to capture.
Hate, betrayal, the photographs tell you it’s all love in the end.
Being alive itself is a tragicomedy.
I do nothing but photograph what I have to photograph.”
I see absurdity in my mother’s eyes.
If loving means to lose one’s self,
Then this irresistible world is full of absurdity.
But,
If there is life,
resisting is all that we can do.
And the only drive to resist is love.
--Hideka Tonomura
They called me Yukari ©Hideka Tonomura
They called me Yukari
Hideka TonomuraThey called me Yukari (Photographed 2007-2009 / Publicized 2012 / Photobook Published 2013 Zen Foto Gallery)
Kabukicho,
ShinjukuPatches of blood,
bare genitaliaA sliver of darkness t
hat’s not meant to be seen.
They called me Yukari.
“How we make a living?
Sell our hearts, piece by piece by piece.”
--Hideka Tonomura
Hideka Tonomura worked for several years as a hostess in a Shinjuku Bar. This work draws on her life in twoworlds - one inside and the other outside this bar. Inside is a vivid fantasy world where only fake emotions areshown. The fakery is stripped in the outside world, leaving it desolate and barren. Emotion is scarcelyencountered, but when found it is both precious and poignant. Photography book They called me Yukari waspublished by Zen Foto Gallery in 2013.
orange elephant ©Hideka Tonomura
orange elephant
Hideka Tonomuraorange elephant (Photographed 2012-2015 / Published 2015 Zen Foto Gallery)
"I have been waiting.For a beautiful tomorrow"
--Hideka Tonomura
Cheki ©Hideka Tonomura
Cheki
Hideka Tonomura Cheki good girl/bad girl (2016~/Published 2018 Morel books UK)
Love doesn't go into a coffin.
It only burns into nothing.
If the Earth exists,
Things will remain.
Despair for me.Hopes for you.
- Hideka Tonomura
die of love ©Hideka Tonomura
die of love
Hideka Tonomura die of love (Published 2018 Zen Foto Gallery)
Love has no form
If love has a form,
let it be a photograph in the very end
It’s nothing but paper
Just laugh
-Life itself is ridiculous, after all
Ah, a tragicomedy, it is
— Hideka Tonomura, "die of love"
SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty ©Hideka Tonomura
SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty
Hideka Tonomura SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty ( Published 2020 Zen Foto Gallery )
Artist Statement for
"SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty"
instagram.com/shining_woman_project/
For women, losing their womb, ovaries, breasts, and hair is extremely depressing.
Feelings of despair and madness.
Young women who dream of giving birth.
Women who are receiving infertility treatment.
Due to their cancer, they are not only losing their uterus, ovaries, and breasts but are also simultaneously losing their dream of having their own child.
The fear of losing their female organs brings a premonition of death to their femininity.
It feels like hell for them to accept such fears.
Nevertheless, women still put on lipstick, nice clothes, and wigs, and head out to their battlefield—the outside world.
Verbal abuse and prejudice.
Unawareness can be truly horrifying.
Disappointed in myself for hating people who use mean words,
while I myself may unconsciously have used mean words as well.
It can happen to me as a woman, and to men, to their loved ones.
I want to change how people perceive female cancers and cancer patients.
I want the world to become a place where women can live more comfortably so that they can continue to treasure their everyday life and feel free to go outside, without having to experience any verbal abuse just because they have lost their breasts, wombs, ovaries, and hair.
Femininity is not determined by one’s body parts. Everything is a testament to choosing to live.
Women can always turn despair into strength and continue to let their beauty shine out.
The true meaning of shining lies in the power with which we fight for our lives.
Women who dream to see their children grow up.
Women who dream to become an adult and fall in love.
Life is beautiful.
Anytime,
Anywhere,
Any case.
The essence of life is always beautiful.
All women are shining.
——Hideka Tonomura
女性にとって、子宮、乳房、卵巣、髪を失う事は深い深い悲しみです。
絶望と発狂。
出産を夢みる若い女性。
不妊治療をしている女性。
がんになり、子宮、卵巣、乳房を失うと同時に、自分の子どもを産むという夢までもを失う。
女性のシンボルを失う恐怖と向き合う事は、女性性への死を予感させる。
その恐怖を受け入れる事との、地獄の対話。
それでも女性達は、口紅をひき、素敵なお洋服を身に纏い、ウィッグを着用し、戦場である、外界に出ていく。
言葉の暴力と偏見。
無意識とは本当に恐ろしいもの。
卑劣な言葉に対し、人を憎んでしまう事への失望。
でも、私も同様に卑劣な言葉を無意識に使っているかもしれない。
同じ女性として、自分にも起こりうる事。
そして、男性も大切な人に起こりうる事。
女性のがんだけでなく、がん患者に対する概念を変えたい。
女性達が生きやすくなる世の中になって欲しい。
変わらぬ大切な日常として、外界に出れるよう。
乳房、子宮、卵巣、髪を失っても言葉の暴力に合わぬよう。
女性性は臓器によって、決められるものではない。
全ては生きる事を選択した証。
女性はいつだって、どんな絶望でも受け入れ、美しくいる事の強さがある。
輝くという本当の意味を知っている。
命と闘える力がある。
子供の成長を見届ける事が夢だという女性。
大人になって恋愛する事が夢だという女性。
Life is beautiful.
Anytime,
Anywhere,
Any case.
命の芯はいつだって美しい。
女性達は輝いている。
-Hideka Tonomura
殿村任香
TOXIC © Hideka Tonomura
TOXIC
Only I
can deal with my own reality
And it is I
who makes the most perfect photographic vector to my own reality
While I am bound by reality yet I will unravel it
There is no point in living for a hundred years
I am made of soul and flesh
I remain in my photographs
Within their ethical framework people are eating
Sometimes photography eats taboo
And love craves it
There are no ethics in love
When love takes over
Photography becomes toxic
— Hideka Tonomura, "TOXIC"
Soul Trip © Hideka Tonomura
Soul Trip 魂トリップ
My trip to Seoul evolved into a trip to the very “soul” of my grandfather and grandmother.
The love between my grandfather and grandmother transcended national borders.
They lived in love from the time they crossed three mountains in Tsuruga to the time of their death, but at the time there was profound sadness surrounding the border of Japan and Korea. This sorrow echoed like someone’s scream of hatred, which resonated through my grandparents’ love, and roared darkly within me too
My first trip to Seoul was in 2012.
I felt as if I had left half my heart behind, as if it was burning inside me.
I fell in love with Seoul.
The journey was full of strange coincidences, and was blessed with friendships, the presence of which melted my sadness away.
Korea, which I had once regarded as dark and distant, came to shimmer with light
My grandmother, who was Japanese, died as a Korean, wearing the Korean bridal gown she had been promised.
Love is freedom.
And freedom is a heavy thing.
My grandmother's strong will taught me what it means to love someone.
Life is not a matter of chance but of necessities, and the source of life is love
Just as my grandparents simply loved each other
Let us simply love
Let us simply love, even through the sadness of borders and the voices of hatred.
My love for Seoul has become one of my most beautiful memories, which lives in my life alongside the souls of my grandparents
For me, the act of photography is akin to living alone in a deep, deep sea
I feel truly glad that I have persisted in diving in the depths
The journey continues
Thank you to all those who have shared this soul trip with me
Eat well, sleep well, and take care
May you be happy forever
Let’s meet again somewhere
魂トリップ soul trip
-Hideka Tonomura
Banana Yoshimoto-Book review of Hideka Tonomura's Soul Trip
"What the Soul Saw"
Banana Yoshimoto
The photobook Soul Trip was amazing.
I can’t explain what was so great about it. I was astonished. I think it was because it faithfully depicted the truth of how the flow of the human mind and the flow of one’s surroundings are perfectly connected. It even made me think that I understood the meaning of a photobook for the first time.
Tonomura’s photographs, like her extraordinary life itself, are something that ordinary people in ordinary life would never see and, if anything, would rather not see.
And, of course, my peaceful daily life too, is devoid of anything close to her photographs. Sadly nothing. That’s probably why people say my novels are warm and fluffy, but I just don’t have anything.
But deep inside I know. Tonomura and I share a similar aspiration to achieve great heights. Despite the vast differences in our lives and life experiences, we find common ground in our understanding of each other on this particular point. When we look at each other’s works, we can feel how we risked our lives without compromise and without being carried away. That is the common ground of art. Art has one purpose: to awaken people and to help them see the beauty of the world a little bit more clearly. Each photograph in this book, which appears to have been selected at random, contains an unusual amount of emotion, dreams, despair and hope. Tonomura has truly reached an incredible level.
Copyright © 2025 by Banana Yoshimoto