Mika Ninagawa (蜷川 実花, Ninagawa Mika, born October 18, 1972) is a Japanese photographer and director, known for her brightly colored photographs of flowers, goldfish, and landscapes.
Biography
Daughter of acclaimed theatre director Yukio Ninagawa, she first came to prominence in the late 1990s as part of Japan's 'Girly Photo' movement (in which amateurs took photos of daily objects). Her work was first exhibited outside Japan in 1997 at the Parisian concept store Colette (boutique), and in 2001 she received the 26th Kimura Ihei Award (Japan's most prestigious photography award).[1]
In 2014, she was appointed as an executive board member of the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2020. [2]
Alongside photographers like Hiromix and Yurie Nagashima they were important figures in a 90s photographic movement. This movement, influenced by cultural changes, point & shoot cameras, and 'Purikura' (Print Club) culture, featured Japanese teenagers, especially girls, creating a new visual style. [4]
Awards
1996: Grand Prize, 9th Shashin Hitotsubo Ten
1996: New Cosmos of Photography Excellence Award, Canon [5]
ピンク・ローズ・スウィート : 蜷川実花写真集. Pink Rose Suite. Tokyo, Japan: Editions Treville, 2001. ISBN9784309904177.
A Piece of Heaven. Tokyo, Japan: Editions Treville, 2002. ISBN4-309-90493-9. Color photographs.
Liquid Dreams. Tokyo, Japan: Editions Treville, 2003. ISBN4-309-90556-0. Color photographs.
On Happiness - Contemporary Japanese Photography. with Midori Mitamura and Toshihiro Komatsu, eds. Tokyo, Japan: Editions Treville, 2003. ISBN9784309905518. Color Photographs.
Ninagawa was involved in the interior design of the Bar & Cafè on the Bund cafe and bar in Shanghai, China.[33]
Ninagawa was involved in designing the external livery of a new Genbi Shinkansen excursion train scheduled to be operated in Japan by JR East from spring 2016.[34]
She appears alongside fellow Movie director Yūichi Fukuda, in a scene as a couple, in TV Tokyo's 2019 special 2-day drama starring Shun Oguri and Tsuyoshi Muro, "Futatsu no Sokoku" (Two homelands).[35]
References
Yamauchi Hiroyasu (山内宏泰 "Hiroyasu Yamauchi"), "Mika Ninagawa", in Kōtarō Iizawa, ed., Nihon no shashinka 101 (日本の写真家101, 101 Japanese photographers). Tokyo: Shinshokan, 2008. ISBN978-4-403-25095-8. P.202. (in Japanese)