Megumi Otsuka
Megumi Otsuka is a Tokyo-based photographer. She was born in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan and moved to Tokyo in 2002. She started taking snapshots of the city of Tokyo with monochrome film around 2003 and her first photobook titled "TOKYO" was published in 2012. The series was published in the Japanese leading camera magazines, "Asahi Camera" and "Nippon Camera". And in 2014, her second photobook titled "IBIZA" was published, featuring monochrome photographs she took at clubs in Ibiza.
Statement
Everything in the world has a shadow regardless of it being alive or not. Given the truth that everything that exists in this world today will one day disappear, we can say that in a sense, everything is alive while it exists, whether it has a soul or not. Shadows cling to all such things as a reminder of the end that will surely come to them one day. Light embraces everything with warmth although it only glimmers for a short moment periodically in the darkness of one's inner thoughts. In the monotonous and lifeless repetition of daily life, one can not lose their shadow that hints of death. Instead, all one can do is wait for a little light to shine into their darkness, where bitter memories repeatedly hunt them down. Such daily life is gray, or monochrome. It's a monochrome world, with radiant light contrasting with black darkness.
Upcoming & Current Exhibitions
Millepiani, Rome, Italy : Windows into the Virtual (juried group exhibition),
Feb.16-24 during the Feb.5-Mar.4 exhibition
Millepiani, Rome, Italy : Post-Industrialism (juried group exhibition),
Jan.28-Feb.4 during the Jan.8-Feb.4 exhibition
The places that carry the above photobooks
Shinshin Bldg. 3F, 1-3-5, Shinjuku,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0022, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3358-3974
Email: sokyusha@yahoo.co.jp
220 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Kunstkiosk im Helmhaus
Limmatquai 31, CH-8001, Zurich
CV
<Exhibitions>
Millepiani, Rome, Italy : The Man and the Machine (juried group exhibition), 2020
PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary : Motion (juried group exhibition, juror: Zsolt Batori), 2020
KromArt Gallery , Rome, Italy : The Art of Photography (juried group exhibition hosted by PH21 Gallery, juror: Zsolt Batori), 2020
Black Box Gallery, Portland, USA : Dynamic: Shadow and Light (juried group exhibition, juror: Todd Johnson), 2020
Black Box Gallery, Portland, USA : Vision: Black and White (juried group exhibition, online annex, juror: Todd Johnson), 2020
Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, USA : The Shadow Aspect (juried group exhibition, juror: Ross Anderson), 2020
Sokyusha Gallery, Tokyo, Japan : Untitled (solo exhibition), 2008
Café gallery huit, Tokyo, Japan : Time Doesn't Stop (solo exhibition), 2006
Café gallery huit, Tokyo, Japan : Untitled (solo exhibition), 2005
Golden-gai Kodoji, Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo (solo exhibition), 2005
<Awards>
Honorable Mention, New York Center for Photographic Art, Street Photography Competition (juror: Michael Itkoff), 2020
Honorable Mention, 15th Pollux Awards, Non-Professional Section, Street Photography Category (Single), 2020
Honorable Mention, MonoVisions Photography Awards, Street Photography Category (Series), 2020
Finalist, Passepartout Photography Prize, 2020
<Publications>
IBIZA (photobook), Sokyusha, Japan, 2014
TOKYO (photobook), Sokyusha, Japan, 2012
Nippon Camera : Tokyo (magazine), Japan, 2006, 2012
Asahi Camera : Tokyo (magazine), Japan, 2008