Press Release 2015/01/27

Mika Ninagawa：Self-image
January 24 (Saturday) – May 10 (Sunday), 2015[1] Self-image, 2013 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery

The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to announce a solo exhibition by the internationally active
photographer Mika Ninagawa. Known for her vivid and richly colorful photographs, Ninagawa is an artist who
continually challenges herself, expanding in recent years into the areas of cinema, music videos and evencollaborations with fashion designers, while maintaining a style that is uniquely her own. The vitality and splendor
conveyed in her colors – dubbed "Ninagawa Color" – and images of teen idols and flowers stand in stark contrast to
the sense of distortion, decline, stagnation and even death that she captures in other work.
At the core of the exhibition are Ninagawa's noir series, a study of darkness and shadows that broke new ground forthe artist, her PLANT A TREE series of cherry blossoms scattered on the surface of rivers created during a period of
intense focus, and her monochrome self-portraits which she began at the start of her career and has addedintermittently since then. Together they present a "self-image" described by Ninagawa as being "close to her raw
and unguarded self". This exhibition features about 150 pieces centered on never-before-shown works (including a
new video/sound installation).

[Artist Biography]
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Winner of many awards including the Grand Prize of the 7th Hitotsuboten, the Excellent
Award of the 13th Canon New Cosmos of Photography Prize, the 9th Konica Photo Encouragement Award, the 26thKimura Ihei Award and the Ohara Museum of Art Award (the 13th VOCA 2006 Exhibition). To date, she has
published about 90 books. She directed her first feature-length film SAKURAN, which opened in 2007. Criticallyacclaimed in Japan and abroad, the film was a special entry at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival and the
31st Hong Kong International Film Festival. The exhibition Mika Ninagawa: Earthly Flowers, Heavenly Colors(2008) was launched at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and toured art museums throughout Japan, where it
attracted some 180,000 viewers. Her second directorial effort, Helter Skelter, opened in 2012 and was awarded theSilver Kaneto Shindo Award 2012. In 2014, she was appointed as an executive board member of the Tokyo
Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2020.
http://www.ninamika.com[Featured Works]
Gallery I: Untitled (2015, video and sound installation) 8′ 38″ (loop)
A video installation comprising three large projections on three walls of the gallery. Music, specially composed byKeiichiro Shibuya to accompany the video images, is presented within an acoustic environment created by sound artist
evala as an infinite succession of sounds that are never repeated. (Equipment support:[2] [3] Untitled, 2015 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[4] [5] Untitled, 2015

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery©mika ninagawa/Editing by: ZUMI)Gallery II: noir (2010 -, ink-jet, C-print)
noir is a group of works that reveals the "unvarnished self" of the artist. When noir was published in 2010, it
contained many never before shown photos, as well as those that appeared before in other books. These previous
works embodied the changes in her perception and interpretations amidst a shifting environment and society. Since
starting the series, Ninagawa has continued to add new works. This exhibition includes many that are being shown
to the public for the first time.
If we look closely, we see life and death overflow to a depressing degree
Color overflows within black, black lurks within color
Our food consists of every kind of dead body
Flowers bloom in the midst of dying
Pet animals remain in their cages again today
Now life is born with reckless abandon
Continuing to live towards death day by day
It is almost dazzling
Come on, let's go
I will live every frigid day to its full(Mika Ninagawa, excerpt from noir.)[6] noir, 2010 ©mika ninagawa Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[7][8] noir, 2010 ©mika ninagawa Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery

Staircase: Untitled (2015, ink-jet on colton film）
A particularly distinctive feature of the Hara Museum is its stairwell window through which beautiful sunlightenters. This window is covered with photographic images printed on transparent film in monochrome. The lack ofcolor averts a stained glass effect and the insinuation of religious grandeur, creating instead the feeling of a private
space for memories. In the past, when the Hara Museum was the residence of the Hara family, the staircase was a
private space that led to bedrooms on the second floor.
Gallery IV: PLANT A TREE (2011, C-print)
According to the artist, in the spring of 2010, she began shooting cherry blossoms along the Meguro River in Tokyo
in an almost obsessive fashion. They are images that embody one of the basic points of photography – to capture
passing moments of glory. Ninagawa recently commented as follows:"This is a book of photographs taken only of cherry blossoms along the Meguro River. I took them all
one spring day within a span of about three hours. I see them as photographs that could only have beentaken on that particular day, of things that could only have been recorded at that moment."[9][10] PLANT A TREE, 2011 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery

Gallery III and Gallery V: Self-image (2013 -, C-print)
Ninagawa's early works, which included many self portraits, were sometimes labeled "Girl Photos," in the sensethat they were focused on things within close proximity ("5 meters or less"). To separate her self-portraits from thischaracterization, Ninagawa has kept them away from public view over the years, even as she continued taking them.
These photographs, many of which are monochrome without her trademark "Ninagawa Color," capture a truly raw
and unguarded Mika Ninagawa.
"I close the pages of a galley proof for Mika Ninagawa's Self-image. Swaying in the wind in one corner ofthe yard are the bars and swing-set with which Mika used to play when she was little. I try to push mychild's internal world and bodily flesh gently into the distant background."(Yukio Ninagawa, excerpt from The Sound of Acorns Falling in the Wind in Self-image.)

[1][11] Self-image,2013 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[12][13] Self-image, 2013 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[Exhibition Details]
Exhibition title: Mika Ninagawa: Self-image
Dates: January 24 (Saturday) – May 10 (Sunday), 2015
Venue/Organizer: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art 4-7-25 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001
Tel: 03-3445-0651 E-mail: info@haramuseum.or.jp
Mobile site: http://mobile.haramuseum.or.jp

Website: http://www.haramuseum.or.jp

Blog: http://www.art-it.asia/u/HaraMuseum

Twitter: http://twitter.com/haramuseum (in Japanese only / account name: @haramuseum)Sponsored by: Deutsche Bank Group, LUMINE Co., Ltd., GATEAU FESTA HARADA
Cooperation provided by: Tomio Koyama Gallery, Lucky Star Co., Ltd.
Additional cooperation provided by: Perrier-Jouët, FUJIFILM Imaging Systems Co., Ltd., TOKYO LithmaticCorporation, Oji F-Tex Co., Ltd., TOSHO Printing Co., Ltd., Keiichiro Shibuya, evala, ZUMI
Equipment support provided by:
Hours: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm, Wednesday until 8:00 pm (last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (except May 4) and May 7
Admission: General 1,100 yen; Students 700 yen (high school and university) or 500 yen (elementary and juniorhigh); Free for Hara Museum members, students through high school every Saturday during the school term; 100yen discount per person for groups of 20 or more

Directions: 5 minutes by taxi or 15 minutes on foot from JR Shinagawa Station (Takanawa exit); or from the same
station take the No.96 bus, get off at the first stop (Gotenyama), and walk 3 minutes
Guided tours: A guided tour will be given by the curator in charge of the exhibition every Sunday and on national
holidays from 2:30 pm (the tour lasts approximately 30 minutes).
Related events: Information about events will be posted on the museum website as they are decided.
Note: Sixteen different flyers are available for this exhibition (catalog and flyers designed by Satoshi Machiguchi(match and company, inc.))*An exhibition catalogue will be published during the exhibition. Its contents will include an essay by Minoru
Shimizu, an interview with the artist by Kotaro Shimada and installation views.

[Related Exhibitions]Mika Ninagawa "noir"
February 4 (Wednesday) – February 23 (Monday), 2015
Venue: 8/ ART GALLERY/ TOMIO KOYAMA GALLERY Open daily 11:00 – 20:00
Address: Shibuya, Shibuya-ku 2-21-1 Shibuya Hikarie 8th fl Tel: 03-6434-1493
http://www.hikarie8.com/artgallery/

http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com

Mika Ninagawa "Portraits & Flowers"
February 21 (Saturday) – April 12 (Sunday), 2015
Venue: CAPSULEOpen Saturdays and Sundays only 12:00 – 19:00 Address: 2-7-12-B1 Ikejiri, Setagaya-kuTel: 03-6413-8055 http://www.capsule-gallery.jp/Mika Ninagawa "Portraits & Flowers"
February 21 (Saturday) – April 12 (Sunday), 2015
Venue: SUNDAY (café) Open daily 11:30 – 23:00 (last order 22:00) Closed on Wednesdays
Address: 2-7-12-B1 Ikejiri, Setagaya-ku Tel: 03-6413-8055 http://www.sunday-cafe.jp[Images for Publication]*Please indicate the image number when requesting publicity images. Those images will then be sent by a museum
staff member at a later date.
* Please include the related credit for each image used. Images should not be trimmed, altered or superimposedwith text.

[14] [15] noir, 2010

©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[16] [17] noir, 2010

©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[18] noir, 2010 ©mika ninagawa Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery

[19][20] Self-image, 2013 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[21][22] Self-image, 2013 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery[23][24] Self-image, 2013 ©mika ninagawa

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery

For publicity materials, please contact the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Watanabe, Kajita) by telephone or e-mail.
Tel: +81-3-3280-0679 Fax: +81-3-5791-7630 E-mail: press@haramuseum.or.jp
4-7-25 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001