Shizuka Yokomizo
Shizuka Yokomizo (横溝 静 "Yokomizo Shizuka", born 1966) is a Japanese photographer and installation artist. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, she currently lives and works in London. Biography. Yokomizo studied philosophy at Chuo University in Tokyo from 1985 to 1989. The same year, she moved to the United Kingdom to study fine arts at Chelsea College of Art and Design. After earning her degree, she continued to study the arts at Goldsmiths University of London from 1993 to 1995. Much of her photography utilizes chromogenic print. Her work has been displayed throughout the United States, Europe, South Korea, and  Japan. Her work in recent years has been included in "At The Window" (2013, The Photographer’s View, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles); "The Other Portrait" (2013, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Rovereto); and "Talent Show" (2012, MoMA PS1, New York, University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Florida). She took part in "Exposed" (2010), which toured the Tate Modern in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. She also participated in "Roppongi Crossing" 2010 at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. Artistic practice . The conditions under which Yokomizo captures the image are essential to her work—she states, “[m]any people will call me a photographer, but I don’t think of myself as one...“I chose the medium of photography because it allowed me to visualize my perspective and I wanted to confirm my existence and verify the state of my being in those places.” Exploring “the gap between self and other; the space that exists between ‘me’ and ‘you,’" Yokomizo's work is often a "contrast to the merciless ‘stare’ of documentary photography," seeking to "reproduce a strong sense of reciprocity, and  an awareness of one’s own presence in relation to another.” Yokomizo initiated her series "Stranger" in an attempt to further investigate these relationships, leaving anonymous letters in the mailboxes of first-floor apartments around England. An excerpt from the letter reads, “I would like to take a photograph of you standing in your front room from the street in the evening. A camera will be set outside the window on the street. If you do not mind being photographed, please stand in the room and look into the camera through the window for 10 minutes… I will NOT knock  on your door to meet you. We will remain strangers to each other.” Her work often addresses ideas of “distance and intimacy, anonymity and exposure, collaboration and control, surveillance and exhibitionism,” focusing on the "moment of exchange with the subject." Notable works. Her work is held in the following public collections: Publications. A collection of her photos, titled "Distance", was published in 2004. "Distance" was Yokomizo's first solo exhibition in a public-funded space in the UK. It traveled from Exeter to Cardiff and Sheffield. "Distance" was published in conjunction with the Spacex touring exhibition, 'Shizuka Yokomizo: Distance', curated  by Tom Trevor and organized in collaboration with The Approach (London).