Megumi Otsuka is a photographer who keeps photographing "Surechigai".
Surechigai is a Japanese word which means people passing each other, and also means people misunderstanding each other. The reason why she continues to look at and photograph Surechigai in the streets of the city is because she herself has a strong desire to find the point where she will not misunderstand nor be misunderstood by the ones she loves. In most cases, there are strong ties between a person and their family members during one's childhood. But from adolescence, as the number of secrets we do not or will not tell increase, gaps in our relationships with others grow. Even if there is steadfast love at the bottom of our hearts towards others, we may feel frustrated when we can not truly understand each other, and a sense of emptiness and loneliness will seep into our hearts even when with or talking to the ones we love . This is especially true for relationships that start in adulthood, where each party may have secrets.

Whether one is on their way somewhere with a purpose or just wandering aimlessly, everyone has secrets and feels loneliness as well. A city is a place where many such people pass each other frequently. There is space between people that can never be filled completely, and a city is always full of Surechigai.

Upcoming & Current Exhibitions

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Other News

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The places that carry the above photobooks

Shashasha

Shashasha EU

Sokyusha Gallery

Shinshin Bldg. 3F, 1-3-5, Shinjuku,

Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0022, Japan　

Tel: +81-3-3358-3974

Email: sokyusha@yahoo.co.jp

Park Life Store and Gallery

San Francisco, USA

Kunstkiosk im Helmhaus

Zurich, Switz.

La Nouvelle Chambre Claire

Paris, France

CV

Megumi Otsuka is a Tokyo-based photographer who was born and raised in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. She started her street photography career after being inspired by Daido Moriyama's photobook Shinjuku. She then started participating in his workshops and teaching herself. After film prices rose and her regular darkroom closed, she then experimented with digital cameras, but shooting the streets of Tokyo with monochrome film has always been her life's work for the past 18 years. After the Covid-19 pandemic ends, she is planning to travel abroad to shoot the streets of other major cities.

Shadow & Light in Tokyo (zine), Tour Dogs, USA, 2021

Ibiza (photobook), Sokyusha, Japan, 2014

Tokyo (photobook), Sokyusha, Japan, 2012

Nominee, Black & White Spider Awards, Amateur Section, Children of the World Category, 2022

Nominee, Black & White Spider Awards, Amateur Section, Fine Art Category, 2021, 2022

Honorable Mention, Contemporary Art Room Gallery, Black & White Art Competition, 2022

Honorable Mention, Annual Photography Awards, Street Category, 2021

Honorable Mention, Paris International Street Photo Awards, Shadows & Reflection Category (series), 2021

Runner Up, 17th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Non-Professional Section, Street Photography Category (series), 2021

Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards, Non-Professional Section, Street Photography Category, 2021

Honorable Mention, New York Center for Photographic Art, Let's Play Competition (juror Crista Dix), 2021

Honorable Mention, PH21 Gallery, Portraits Without Faces Exhibition, 2021

2nd Place, 16th Pollux Awards, Street Photography Category (series, juror Stephen Perloff), 2021

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, juror Julio Hirsch-Hardy), 2020

Honorable Mention, MonoVisions Photography Awards, Street Photography Category (series), 2020

Finalist, Passepartout Photography Prize, 2020

Foto Nostrum, Barcelona, Spain : Barcelona Foto Biennale, (collective exhibition), 2022

Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, USA : The Streets (juried group exhibition, juror Sarah Weiss), 2022

Auburn Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA : Black & White (juried group exhibition), 2021

Foto Nostrum, Barcelona, Spain : Barcelona Foto Biennale (collective exhibition), 2021

A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, USA : portal (juried group exhibition, juror Elizabeth Avedon), 2021

Stelio Crise State Library, Trieste, Italy : Tales of the Unwritten (collective exhibition), 2021

Trieste Airport (Trieste Photo Days Tour), Trieste, Italy, 2021

Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece : Cityscapes (juried group exhibition), 2021

PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary : Portraits Without Faces (juried group exhibition), 2021

Chania International Photo Festival, Chania, Greece, 2021

Millepiani, Rome, Italy : Windows into the Virtual (juried group exhibition), 2021

Millepiani, Rome, Italy : Post-Industrialism (juried group exhibition), 2021

Millepiani, Rome, Italy : The Man and the Machine (juried group exhibition), 2020

PH21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary : Motion (juried group exhibition), 2020

KromArt Gallery , Rome, Italy : The Art of Photography (juried group exhibition hosted by PH21 Gallery), 2020

Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR, USA : Dynamic: Shadow and Light (juried group exhibition), 2020

Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR, USA : Vision: Black and White (juried group exhibition, online annex), 2020

Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 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

Collect Art Street Photography Special Edition (magazine), Collect Art, Georgia, 2022

Al-Tiba9 Original Issue 10 (magazine), Al-Tiba9 Contemporary Art, Spain, 2022

The Hand Magazine Issue 36 (magazine), USA, 2022

MVIBE Magazine January issue 2.5 Conceptual & Portrait (magazine), USA, 2022

Tales of the Unwritten (photographic volume), dotArt, Italy, 2021

Emergence 2 (zine), Glasgow Gallery of Photography, UK, 2021

Nippon Camera (magazine), Japan, 2006, 2012

Asahi Camera (magazine), Japan, 2008

nagare (magazine), Japan, 2007, 2008

Lenscratch, Favorite Photograph Exhibition, 2022