Minae Kawada Photo Exhibition
Dreaming Planet
- Dates
- Friday, July 24 - Thursday, August 6, 2020
- Time
- 11:00 - 18:00
Sony Imaging Gallery will close at 18:00 until further notice.
Minae Kawada Profile
She was born in Gifu Prefecture. The first camera she ever had was in high school. Her mother had bought one for her to use on a school trip. Since then, she has always had a camera by her side and brought in lots of photos to get developed whenever she traveled somewhere.
After her children were born, they became the focus of the pictures she took, but, then, as they got older, there were less and less opportunities to photograph them. But, her life took a turn for the better one day when she was given a digital SLR camera. Taking pictures all of a sudden became fun and she went head over heels to learn all that she could about photography.
Now, she works out of Gifu as a freelance photographer and has been showing her work in Japan and abroad since 2017. Photography, for her, has gone from something she liked and did often to a full-time job. Today, it is a tool she uses to continuously remake herself and to share her world and thoughts.
Official website
Instagram(@miko_wonderland)
Awards
- 2015
- Excellence Prize, Photobook Category, 55th Fujifilm Photo Contest
- 2018
- Work Nominated, The Editors’ Photo Award ZOOMS JAPAN 2019
Honorable Mention, Professional Fine-Art Category,
International Photography Awards 2018 - 2019
- Winner, “The Town of Photography” Higashikawa Prize, ONAEBA 2019
Work Nominated, Professional Abstract Category, 12th International Color Awards
Reviewer’s Choice (Hiroshi Suganuma), Independence Exhibitions,
Higashikawa International Photo Festival
Judge’s Choice Award (Grey Chow), Premier Art Award Exhibition London 2019 - 2020
- Work Nominated, Professional Abstract Category, 13th International Color
Awards Reviewer’s Award (Masato Terauchi), ONAEBA vol.26
Solo Exhibitions
- 2016
- “La Vida - Ikitoshi Ikeru Mono (Every Living Thing),” Focus Rock Studio, Aichi
- 2020
- “Femme,” Yu-Ai-Clinic (Gallery Miki), Kyoto
Group Exhibitions
- 2018
- “East West Artist Exchange Exhibition 2018,” Posk Gallery, London
“New Japan Photo,” CHI-KA, Du Bai; Hotel Anteroom Kyoto, Kyoto
“ABC Art Book Fair 2018,” M WOODS, Beijing - 2019
- “New Japan Photo,” CHI-KA, Du Bai
“ONAEBA 2019,” Osanbashi Hall, Yokohama
“Independence Exhibitions,” Higashikawa International Photo Festival,
Higashikawa Bunka Gallery, Higashikawa
“Premier Art Exhibition London,” La Galleria Pall Mall, London
“Imagination Paris,” Paris Photo Off 2019, Galerie Joseph Le Marais, Paris
“fotofever,” Carrousel du Louvre, Paris - 2020
- “ONAEBA Vol. 26,” 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Online exhibition)
Artist-in-Residence Program
- 2018
- EWAL Artist in Residence in UK 2018, United Kingdom
View Works Online (Created by Minae Kawada, in Japanese)
With “Dreaming Planet”, I have used the patterns and colors of light from fireworks over the Nagara River in Gifu, a spectacle I have fondly viewed since I was a child, to create abstract works that express the emotional experience of pursuing one’s dreams. I recall my sons in their earliest years, abandoned to their thoughts and imagination, tirelessly jumping up and down trying to grab the fireworks as they filled the night sky like stars. It was a memorable moment that inspired me to produce these works - their reaching with all their might for something that was to them so beautiful yet fleeting personified how we all have dreams that we chase.
Everything looks different when viewed from another angle. The same goes for fireworks: the sparkles, streamers and colors amidst the darkness always do the unexpected. In these works, where I liken the sparkles to stars that spawn dreams and hopes and the streamers to me and my emotions, I have sought to portray the yearning and passion to dream, euphoria, restlessness, fear, despair, rebirth and other feelings that define me through color, whim and subtlety.
When I began these works in 2017, my sons were becoming men and, realizing that things would soon be changing, I did some deep introspection as to what I could and wanted to do with the rest of my life. Then, what happened in 2020 came totally unexpected, so I thought to cheer myself up with this project. Like those unforgettable fireworks shows have done for me, I hope this exhibition will rekindle the hopes and dreams you had and give you the impetus to keep going.