The Women Who Framed Japanese Photography Take Center Stage in ICP Exhibition

I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now, a traveling exhibition organized by Aperture, arrives at the International Center of Photography in New York this fall.

After stops at Fotomuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands and Hikarie Hall in Tokyo, the exhibition—which follows the trail of the cult-favorite Aperture book of the same name—makes its latest destination following its debut at the Archbishop’s Palace during the 2024 Rencontres d’Arles, the renowned photography festival in southern France.

The exhibition itself takes an expansive view of the history of Japanese photography, moving beyond the often male-dominated canon of figures like Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki to champion the underrecognized contributions of Japanese women photographers from the 1950s to the present. Across photographs, installations, and videos, the works capture women’s lived experiences and perspectives on Japanese society, often through deeply experimental approaches.

A key photograph from Mao Ishikawa’s photobook Akabanaa (Red Flower), a series documenting the Okinawan women she met while working at military bars in Koza City and Kin Town, is rendered in solemn black and white. Close-up images of a worn lipstick from Miyako Ishiuchi’s Mother’s series and a flickering eyelash by Rinko Kawauchi transform intimate details into quiet acts of observation. The exhibition brings together both celebrated and contemporary artists, including Mari Katayama, Kunié Sugiura, Miwa Yanagi, Tomoko Sawada, Lieko Shiga, and Rika Noguchi.

Here, women reclaim their place in the history of Japanese photography. No longer confined to the role of subjects before the lens, they emerge as image-makers, documenting the world on their own terms while recognizing one another within a lineage that has too often been overlooked.

The exhibition’s title, drawn from a verse in one of Rinko Kawauchi’s poems, becomes especially resonant: “Once in a while,/ we should look into each other’s eyes./ Otherwise we might feel lost./ I’m so glad you are here.”