To coincide with the Edinburgh Art Festival, Stills is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Ishiuchi Miyako – an influential post-war Japanese photographer. It will be the largest exhibition of Miyako’s work in the UK to date and the first time her work has been exhibited in Scotland. The show which runs from 28 July to 8 October 2022 will consist of a selection of work from some of her most celebrated series including, Mother’s, the series with which she represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 2005; work documenting the belongings of victims of the atomic bomb which are kept at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum; and photographs from the series Frida, made at The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City where Miyako photographed Kahlo’s garments such as corsets, cosmetics and shoes.
Ishiuchi Miyako (born 1947) began her photographic career shooting familiar streets and buildings in her hometown, Yokosuka, which had been transformed during the post-war period into a large American naval base. For over ten years, Miyako documented this alien presence, capturing traces of the US Occupation that lingered decades after the war had ended, and charging her work with a subjectivity which blended personal and political awareness.
‘Mother’s#38‘, courtesy Ishiuchi Miyako / The Third Gallery Aya
More recently, Miyako’s work has continued to record material traces of the passage of time, turning her lens away from locations towards the bodies and personal belongings of people. Her series Mother’s (2000-05), in which she documented her mother’s possessions as a means of coming to terms with their relationship and her mother’s death, was selected to represent Japan at the 2005 Venice Biennale. This led to a publisher inviting Miyako to capture the everyday objects which had belonged to victims of the atomic bomb and are held in the collection of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The Frida Kahlo Museum later commissioned Miyako to photograph Kahlo’s objects at the Blue House in Mexico City (Frida, 2012)
Miyako’s work has been exhibited and collected by numerous prestigious collections and institutions around the world. Exhibitions of her work have been held at J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2015) and the Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan (2017). She was the recipient of the 2014 Hasselblad Award.
Details: https://stills.org/exhibitions/ishiuchi-miyako/
Event: Ishiuchi Miyako in Conversation with Ben Harman
To mark the occasion of Ishiuchi Miyako’s exhibition, join Stills at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh on 2 August 2022 for Ishiuchi Miyako in Conversation with Ben Harman, a rare opportunity to hear Ishiuchi Miyako talk about her work. This will be an illustrated conversation. Ishiuchi Miyako will be assisted with interpretation by filmmaker, Linda Hoaglund. Book your tickets here.
Ishiuchi Miyako © Maki Ishii
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