Mayumi SUZUKI
鈴木麻弓
Born in Onagawa Town, Miyagi Prefecture 1977, graduated from the photography department at the Nihon University College of Art. A visual storyteller, Mayumi Suzuki creates works based on personal stories. She grew up in a family that ran a photo studio founded by her grandfather in 1930, and at the age of 18 began studying in the Department of Photography of Nihon University College of Art. After graduating, she worked as a freelance photographer, focusing on portraits. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11, 2011. Suzuki’s hometown of Onagawa was destroyed by the tsunami and her parents lost their lives. Since that time, she has frequently returned to her hometown to record the efforts of people in the area to move forward from the disaster. Since 2020, she has been working on her new project “Hōjō” (fertility), which portrays her experience going through infertility treatment. Her The Restoration Will, self-published in 2017, has been highly acclaimed, receiving, among other awards, the Photobox Grand Prix (Italy) and the 2018 PHOTO ESPANA International Division Best Photobook of the Year (Spain). An up-and-coming Japanese artist, her work “Twilight Daylight” (Japanese title: “Ashita no hikari”) was shown at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in 2020.
Publications
2018 - "The Place to belong" (Pix.House)
2017 - "The Restoration Will" Ceiba Editions(ITALY) ISBN978-88-941960-4-7
2017 - "The Restoration Will" self-published
2012 - “Onagawa, SasakiPhotoStudio – From March 11, 2011, and beyond,”March 2012, Ichiyosha, Inc.,
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 - "The Restoration Will" at Spazio Labo (Bologna, Italy)
2017 - publish launch"The Restoration Will" at Reminders Photography Stronghold (Tokyo, Japan)
2017 - "The Restoration Will" at KAUNAS PHOTO GALLERY(Lithuania)
2017 - "The Restoration Will" at Reminders Photography Stronghold (Tokyo, Japan)
2014 - The Bonds of Parents and Child, Niigata Nippo Media ship( Niigata, Japan)
2012 - “Madam of Onagawa,” Tohoku Electric Power Co. Green Plaza (Sendai, Japan)
2011 - “The father’s look and the daughter’s gaze, ” Fujifilm Photo Salon, Traveling exhibition
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 - Biennale de Photographie en Condroz (Condroz,Belgium)
2020 - “Twilight Daylight” Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
2018 - SIPF Singapore International Photography Festival(DECK, Singapore)
2018 - Foto Leggend (Roma, Italy)
2018 - "Photobook as an object / Photobook who cares process showcase"(Engine Room Gallery, Wellington)
2018 - "Again See" Zhongshan Art Museum, curator by Kurt Tong(China)
2017 - "The Restoration Will" at PHOTOLUX (Lucca, Italy)
2016 - "photobook As Object" at Reminders Photography Stronghold (Tokyo, Japan)
2016 - "Focus Japan" by Kuala Lumpur International Photography Award at White box (KL, Malaysia)
2015 - "Turning Point" at Project Basho (Philadelphia, USA)
2012 - “Two photographers in a wish for reconstruction,” Portrait Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
2011 - “The Day and After – Memory of ONAGAWA: Sponsered by Hug Japan”, AIGA Gallery New York (N.Y., U.S.A.)
Awards
2018 - San Jose Photo open call-honorable mention (Uruguay)
2017 - Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Fund-Finalist
2017 - Aperture first photobook -Shortlist(US)
2017 - PHOTOLUX Photoboox Grandprix(Italy)
2017 - CORTONA ON THE MOVE dummy award -shortlist top3 (Italy)
2017 - Kaunas Photo Grandprix, Kaunas photo star (Lithuania)
2017 - LUMA RENCONTRES DUMMY BOOK AWARD ARLES -shortlist (France)
2017 - Kassel Dummy Award -shortlist (Germany)
2017 - FUAM dummy book award -shortlist (Turkey)
2016 - Harridan Award -the Juror’s Choice (Japan)
2016 - Ibasho Gallery, Belgium -Shortlist(Belgium)