​​​Born in 1979. After graduating from the Broadcasting and Film Department at Osaka Visual Arts, she began photographing in 2002. In 2008, she published her photobook Mama Love, which candidly captured the everyday life of her own family, with AKAAKA Art Publishing. The book marked a striking debut and attracted attention both in Japan and internationally.

In 2013, she published and presented They Called Me Yukari with Zen Foto Gallery, a work photographed while living alongside the people of Shinjuku’s Kabukicho nightlife district as a hostess. Since then, she has continued to actively present her work, expanding her field of activity beyond Japan to international audiences.

In 2022, she participated in the group exhibition Love Songs at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. Mama Love, which she exhibited there, was acquired for the collection of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. In the same year, she participated in 10/10: Celebrating Contemporary Japanese Women Photographers, a program featuring ten women photographers at KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival.

In 2024, she participated in TRANSCENDENCE, a group exhibition jointly produced by KYOTOGRAPHIE and SIGMA at Les Rencontres d’Arles in France, presenting Soul Trip, a work that, through a journey to Seoul and the love between her Korean grandfather and Japanese grandmother, questions what it means to “simply love another person” beyond the filters of race and nationality. In 2025, she exhibited Mama Love and Soul Trip with Zen Foto Gallery at Paris Photo.

In addition, the portrait project SHINING WOMAN PROJECT, which she herself launched in 2019, featuring women fighting and facing cancer, received a strong response. In 2025, she started ashé, a creative journal exploring the way human beings live and exist on Earth, and she continues to actively pursue her work today.

 

1979年生まれ。大阪ビジュアルアーツ放送・映画学科卒業後、2002年より写真を撮り始める。

2008年、自身の家族の日常を赤裸々に捉えた写真集『母恋 ハハ・ラブ』を赤々舎より出版。鮮烈なデビューを果たし、国内外で注目を集める。

2013年には、新宿・歌舞伎町でホステスとして夜の街の人々と生きながら撮影した『ゼィコードゥミーユカリ』をZen Foto Galleryより出版、発表。以降、積極的に作品を発表し続け、国内のみならず海外へと活動の場を広げている。

2022年には、パリのヨーロッパ写真美術館で開催されたグループ展「Love Songs」に参加。出展した『母恋 ハハ・ラブ』がヨーロッパ写真美術館のコレクションに収蔵され、同年、KYOTOGRAPHIE 京都国際写真祭では、10人の女性写真家によるプログラム「10/10 現代日本女性写真家たちの祝祭」へ参加した。

2024年には、フランスのアルル国際写真祭のアソシエイトプラグラムにおいて、KYOTOGRAPHIEとSIGMAが共同プロデュースしたグループ展「超越（TRANSCENDENCE）」に参加。ソウルへの旅と、韓国人の祖父と日本人の祖母の愛を通して「ただ人を愛すること」を問う作品『魂トリップ soul trip』を発表し、2025年には、パリ・フォト（Paris Photo）にて、Zen Foto Galleryより『母恋 ハハ・ラブ』および『魂トリップ soul trip』を出展した。

また、2019年に自身が立ち上げた、がんと闘い向き合う女性たちのポートレートプロジェクト「SHINING WOMAN PROJECT」は多くの反響を呼び、2025年には、地球における人間の生き方と在り方を探求するクリエイティブジャーナル「ashé」を開始し、現在も精力的に活動を継続している。

 

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions 

2004　“Unlucky Family”, Nikon Salon, Tokyo & Osaka 

2005　“Tonomura Hideka Shageki -0305-”, UPLINK, Tokyo 

2007　“Viva Hostess’ s Life”, Club Ginko, Tokyo 

2011　“mama 恋 love”, trunk gallery81, Seoul, Korea 

2013　“They called me Yukari / mama 恋 love”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo

2016　“orange elephant”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo 

2016    “orange elephant”, Galería About Art, Pontevedra, Spain 

2018　”dei ofl ove”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo  
2020    "SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty",Zen Foto Gallery,Tokyo

2021    "Paint Cheki", Place M, Tokyo
2021    "SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty", Okayama Gender Equality Promotion Center, Okayama

2022    "SHINING WOMAN PROJECT at KYOTOGRAPHIE 2022" , Kyoto

2022    "Love", Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo
2023    "They called me Yukari",Zen Foto Gallery,Tokyo

2024    "Soul Trip",Zen Foto Gallery,Tokyo

 

 

Selected Group Exhibitions  
2008　“THE EXPOSED #3”, G/P Gallery, Tokyo 

2009　“THE EXPOSED #4”, CASO, Osaka 　　　

              “Editors’ Choice”, Ring Cube Ricoh Gallery, Tokyo 　　　

              “8 Photographers Experiment”, AKAAKA, Tokyo 

2011　"Japan India Global Partnership Summit", The Prince Park Tower, Tokyo

2012　"Nofound Photo Fair", Paris 

2013　"TOKYO PHOTO',Tokyo

              "FOTOFEVER", Paris 

2015　"Cork Photo", Ireland 　　　

              "FOTOFEVER", Paris 

2016　“Shikijo: eroticism in Japanese photography”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong 

2017　“i am an ‘object’”, Zen Foto Gallery, Tokyo 

2018    “Double Method”, Daiwa Foundation Japan House Gallery, London 

2020    "PHOTOBOOK AND PRINT EXHIBITION",La Galerie-Paris 1839,Hong Kong 

2021    "Women are fashioning", Jimei×Arles International Photo Festival, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre Xiamen, China

2022    “10/10 Celebrating Contemporary Japanese Women Photographers”, KYOTOGRAPHIE 2022, Kyoto
2022    "Love Songs", Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris

2023    "PHOTO LONDON 2023" with ZEN FOTO GALLERY

2024    "soul trip" ARLES ASSOCIE 2024 Les Rencontres de la photographie KYOTOGRAPHIE TRANSCENDANCE -超越-

2025    30th Anniversary Project of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts Outdoor Group Exhibition in the KMoPA Garden

             “Forest of Photography”

2025   "PARIS PHOTO 2025" with ZEN FOTO GALLERY

 

 

Collections​

MEP Paris Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris

 

 

Publications  

mama ​恋​ love ​(AKAAKA Art Publishing Inc., 2008) 

They called me Yukari ​(Zen Foto Gallery, 2013) 

orange elephant​ (Zen Foto Gallery, 2015)

cheki​ (Morel Books, 2018)  

die of love (Zen Foto Gallery,2018)

SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty (Zen Foto Gallery,2020)

mama 恋 love New Edition (Zen Foto Gallery,2021)

TOXIC (Zen Foto Gallery,2022)

They called me Yukari New Edition (Zen Foto Gallery,2023)

​Soul Trip (Zen Foto Gallery,2024)​​