Three works from Ayumi Tanaka’s series While Everyone Sleeps are currently on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in the collection presentation Collection 1980–Today: 215 Refractions. The works — Longest Night (2021), It was always full moon when I used to see you (2023), and Mirror (2023) — were recently acquired by MoMA and are now presented as part of the museum’s collection galleries.
In While Everyone Sleeps, Tanaka uses a single photograph as a source, deconstructing and reconstituting images into temporary three-dimensional arrangements. Through this process, she creates layered photographic works that evoke memory, solitude, interior landscapes, and the shifting boundary between reality and imagination. The series was made during a period when being alone became inseparable from daily life, and the works reflect a quiet psychological space shaped by stillness, night, and the fragile presence of images.
This presentation marks a significant milestone in Tanaka’s practice and brings her work into dialogue with MoMA’s collection of contemporary photography and lens-based art.
Mirror from the series While Everyone Sleeps
Ayumi Tanaka
