I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now reconsiders and expands on the history of Japanese photography through the work of more than twenty-five intergenerational artists from the 1950s to today. Presented in partnership with Aperture and curated by Pauline Vermare, Lesley A. Martin, and Takeuchi Mariko, the exhibition includes work by artists such as Ishiuchi Miyako, Katayama Mari, Kawauchi Rinko, Sugiura Kunié, Yanagi Miwa, Sawada Tomoko, Shiga Lieko, and Noguchi Rika.
Spanning photography, installation, photobooks, and printed matter, the exhibition explores the experiences and perspectives of women in Japan through delicate and blunt observations of everyday life, critical reflections on the roles inhabited and reshaped by Japanese women, and approaches that push the boundaries of photography. The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication (Aperture, 2024) that expands upon content of the show through essays, historical material, and a comprehensive bibliography of photobooks made by Japanese women.
About Curators:
Lesley A. Martin is executive director of Printed Matter. Most recently, she was the creative director of Aperture, where she served as editor on more than one hundred books on photography, and as founding publisher of The PhotoBook Review.
Takeuchi Mariko is a photography critic, curator, and professor at Kyoto University of the Arts. Previously, she served as visiting researcher at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and at the National Museum of Art, Osaka.
Pauline Vermare is the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator, Photography, Brooklyn Museum. Previously, she served as the cultural director of Magnum Photos in New York, and curator at the International Center of Photography and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
About Aperture:
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society. For more information, visit aperture.org
Header image: Kawauchi Rinko, Untitled, 2004; from the series the eyes, the ears. Courtesy the artist and Aperture
Kawauchi Rinko, Untitled, 2004; from the series the eyes, the ears. Courtesy the artist and Aperture
Ishikawa Mao, Kin, Koza (present-day Okinawa City), Okinawa Prefecture, 1975–77; from the series Akabanaa (Red flower). Courtesy Nap Gallery, Tokyo, and Aperture
Yamazawa Eiko, What I Am Doing No. 77, 1986. Courtesy Third Gallery Aya, Osaka, and Aperture
Special Thanks
Exhibition organized by Aperture in collaboration with the Rencontres d’Arles with support from Ishibashi Foundation, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, and 1970 Japan World's Exposition Memorial Fund.
Lead support for ICP’s presentation is provided by Monika and Deven Parekh and the Women Moving Millions Art Catalyst Matching Fund. Additional support is provided by the Anne Levy Charitable Trust.
Exhibitions at ICP are supported, in part, by Michael Clinton, Caryl Englander, Renee Harbers Liddell, Almudena Legorreta, Jessica Nagle, Ken Nicholson, Jeffrey Rosen, the ICP Board of Trustees, the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
