For Yokosuka Story #15, offered here, Ishiuchi takes to Yokosuka’s streets. The ambiguity of the scene is highlighted in the artist’s choice of angles and cropping. Her manipulation of the photographic image in the camera and in the darkroom enables her to tell a personal story that also alludes to broader themes of alienation and disaffection of urban life in post-war Japan. Her preferred language of grain, as seen here, was achieved through long hours spent in the darkroom.
One of Japan’s leading artists, Ishiuchi Miyako (b.1947) represented Japan at the 2005 Venice Biennale and is a multiple award winner, including the 4th Kimura Ihei Award (1979), Japan’s Medal with Purple Ribbon (2013) and the Hasselblad Award (2014). Her work has been exhibited internationally since 1979 and recent museum retrospectives include Ishiuchi Miyako: Postwar Shadows at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2015-16) and Ishiuchi Miyako: Grain and Image at the Yokohama Museum of Art (2017-18). Her work is held in many prominent institutions, including The Met and MoMA, New York; Getty Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Tate Modern, London.