On Tuesday July 2, 2024, the Arles meetings et Dry will hand over the Prix Women In Motion to the Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako, at the Théâtre antique d’Arles. On the occasion of this special evening, she will present her work and share with the public her journey and her view on the place of women in photography and in society.
The subject of female representation is present in a subtle but powerful way in Ishiuchi Miyako’s work. In particular, she critiques the objectification of women by taking the female body and making it the subject of her art. Her photographs celebrate imperfections, scars and age, in opposition to the canons of beauty as represented in the mainstream media. By presenting intimate scenes, Ishiuchi Miyako invites viewers to question their own perceptions of femininity, the feminine and the place of women.
ABOUT ISHIUCHI MIYAKO
Born in the Gunma district of Japan in 1947, Ishiuchi Miyako grew up in Yokosuka in the Kanagawa district. In 1979, she won the 4e Kimura Ihei Prize for his work ApartmentIn 2005, she represented Japan at the Venice Biennale with her series Mother’s, a series of photos representing objects inherited from his late mother. The year 2007 marks the beginning of his series Hiroshima/hiroshima, a series of images of objects that belonged to the victims of the atomic bomb (hibakusha), which earned him international fame. In 2013, she won the Honorary Medal of Japan with the purple ribbon, then in 2014, the International Prize of the Hasselblad Foundation (considered the “Nobel Prize of photography”).
Recent exhibitions by Ishiuchi Miyako: Postwar Shadows (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2015), Grain and Image (Yokohama Art Museum, 2017), Ishiuchi Miyako (Each Modern, Taiwan, 2022), Ishiuchi Miyako (Stills, Edinburgh, UK, 2022) and the group exhibition Roppongi Crossing (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2022). Her photography book Frida: Love and Pain (Iwanami Shoten) was published in 2016. Ishiuchi Miyako’s work is on display in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Yokohama Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Tate Modern.
WOMEN IN MOTION LAB 2024
WHAT A JOY TO SEE YOU, JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM THE 1950S TO THE PRESENT
For its third edition, the Women In Motion LAB will highlight Japanese women photographers. First collective exhibition dedicated to their history in France, What a joy to see you, Japanese Photographers from the 1950s to the Present presents the works of twenty-five photographers including Kawauchi Rinko, Nagashima Yurie, Sugiura Kunié, Ushioda Tokuko and Yamazawa Eiko. Curated by Lesley A. Martin, Takeuchi Mariko and Pauline Vermare, and produced by Aperture and Rencontres d’Arles.
This exhibition will be held at the Archbishop’s Palace in Arles. It will be accompanied by the publication of the work Japanese women photographers from the 1950s to the present. Directed by Lesley A. Martin and Pauline Vermare, with Carrie Cushman, Kellie Midori McCormick, and Mariko Takeuchi, this first book devoted to the subject will be published by Éditions Textuel for the French version and Aperture for the English version, I’m So Happy You Are Here, Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now.
For the second LAB program, initiated in 2021, Kering and the Rencontres d’Arles supported research work aimed at promoting the exploration of Bettina Grossman’s archives carried out by the artist Yto Barrada, through an eponymous work, Bettinaand an exhibition of his work proposed during the festival in 2022.
www.rencontres-arles.com
