Born in 1977. Kobe, Japan
Tomoko Sawada (澤田 知子, Sawada Tomoko, born 1977 in Kobe, Japan) is a Japanese contemporary feminist photographer and performance artist. She has been included in numerous group shows in Japan, Europe and the US. Her first solo exhibition was in 1997 at Japan's Gallery Chat. In 2004 she was awarded the prestigious Kimura Ihei Memorial Photography Award for Young Japanese Photographer as well as the International Center of Photography Infinity Award in the category of Young Photographer.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021 - “To Be Bewitched by a Fox,” TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHIC ART MUSEUM, Tokyo, Japan
2018 - “KAGEBŌSHI,” MEM, Tokyo
2017 - “SCHOOL DAYS,” MART, Dublin, Ireland
2016 - “FACIAL SIGNATURE,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
2015 - “FACIAL SIGNATURE,” MEM, Tokyo
2015 - “My Faces,” Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, USA
2014 - “Face to Face,” Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, Kyoto
2013 - “Sign,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
2013 - “Sign,” MEM, Tokyo
2013 - “SKIN,” MEM, Tokyo
2011 - “REFLECTION,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
2011 - “Masquerade,” Connoisseur Contemporary, Hong Kong
2010 - “TOMOKO SAWADA,” Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
2010 - “Mirrors,” MEM, Tokyo
2010 - “Mirrors,” ZABRISKIE GALLERY, New York, USA
2009 - “SAWADA TOMOKO & BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT,” parabolica-bis, Tokyo
2008 - “Decoration,” colette, Paris, France
2008 - “Decoration – 24th Higashikawa Awards Exhibition,” Bunka gallery, Higashikawa, Hokkaido
2008 - “BRIDE,” MEM, Osaka
2008 - “BRIDE,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
2008 - “Decoration,” ZABRISKIE GALLERY, New York, USA
2008 - “IDENTITATS,” Fundaciō Joan Mirō, Barcelona, Spain
2006 - “MASQUERADE,” KPO KIRIN Plaza Osaka, Osaka
2006 - “Early Days,” MEM, Osaka
2006 - “Schoolgirls: School Days and cover/Face,” ZABRISKIE GALLERY, New York, USA
2005 - “Schoolgirls – School Days + cover/Face,” MEM, Osaka
2004 - “Desire to Mimic,” MAK, Vienna, Austria
2004 - “COSTUME, ZABRISKIE GALLERY,” New York, USA
2004 - “ID400,” The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka
2004 - “29th Kimura Ihei Award Exhibition Costume+cover,” Konica Minolta Plaza, Tokyo
2003 - “Costume,” The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka
2003 - “Two Photographic Series,” ZABRISKIE GALLERY, New York, USA
2003 - “ID400+OMIAI♡,” Kohji Ogura Gallery, Aichi
2002 - “OMIAI♡,” galerie p, Brussel, Belgium
2002 - “cover,” SUMISO, Osaka
2001 - “cover,” VAJRA Forest (hair salon), Osaka
2001 - “OMIAI♡,” The Third Gallery Aya, Osaka
2001 - “OMIAI♡,” LAFORET MATSUYAMA SOU ART GALLERY, Ehime,
2001 - “OMIAI♡,” ROCKET, Tokyo
2000 - “ID400,” Rocket ART LABORATORY, Tokyo
1999 - “Tomoko Sawada Exhibition,” gallery ITEZA, Kyoto
1999 - “Tomoko Sawada Exhibition,” CLEAN SISTERS GALLERY, Osaka
1997 - “I speak about Me,” Gallery Chat Noir, Hyogo

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021
“Repro Japan: Technologies of Popular Visual Culture,” Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA
“ALL THIS HAPPENED: TWENTY NINE YEARS OF ROSEGALLERY,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
“1st Collection Gallery Exhibition 2021–2022,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
“Next World – Taguchi Art Collection x Iwaki City Art Museum,” Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima
2020
“2020-2 Collection Highlight & Special Feature: Portrait of Self and Others,” Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
“I Am a Story: Self-Portraits,” The Warehouse, Milwaukee, USA
“Collection of Tokushima 2019 Contemporary Art and Photography,” The Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima
“SCHOOL PHOTOS AND THEIR AFTERLIVES,” Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA
2019
“from KOKOKARA, KOREKARA,” Shitamachi Art Festival, Hyogo
“JAPAN UNLIMITED,” MuseumsQuartier Wien, Vienna, Austria
“Filters + Frames Developing meaning in photography and beyond,” Galerie der HBK Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
“Your Mirror,” International Center of Photography, New York, USA
2018
“SELF / OTHERS,” CANON Gallery S, Tokyo
“Incognite: The Eye in Search, Singapore International Photography Festival,” Japan Creative Centre, Singapore
“Contemporary Art of the 21st Century,” Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa
“Vigilance, Struggle, Pride: Through Her Eyes,” UGM | Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia; Kunstraum Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Zagreb,Croatia; WestLicht. Schauplatz für Fotografie, Wien, Austria; Slovak Union of Visual Arts, Umelka Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2017
“20 Year Anniversary TOP Collection: Scrolling Through Heisei Part 3 Synchronicity,” Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo
“THE ART SHOW – Art of the New Millennium in Taguchi Art Collection,” The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Gunma
“Out of Real,” Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo
“Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2017 MULTIPLE FUTURE,” Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo
2016
“images of Beauty,” Spiral Garden, Tokyo
“HE / SHE / THEY: A Group Exhibition Highlighting Our Collective Notions of Identity,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
“Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
“Snacks,” Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China
“New in Photography,” The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
“THE GOLDEN LEGEND,” Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi
“Collection of Tokushima 2016 New Collection,” The Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima
“ORDER & REORDER CURATE YOUR OWN EXHIBITION,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto
“Performing for the Camera,” Tate Modern, London, UK
2015
“The Younger Generation: Contemporary Japanese Photography,” The Getty, Los Angels, USA
“Kimura Ihei Award 40th Anniversary Exhibition,” The Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa
“PERSONALITIES: FANTASY AND IDENTITY IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND NEW MEDIA,” PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM, Palm Springs, USA
2014
“2014-2 Neither / Both,” Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
“Second Sight: The David Kronn Collection,” Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
“Collection Exhibition: Minimal / Maximal,” Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi
“Convergences: Selected Photographs from the Permanent Collection,” The Getty, Los Angels, USA
“The 2nd Collection Gallery Exhibition 2014-2015: Self-portrait of the 00s -Works by TAKAMINE Tadasu and SAWADA Tomoko,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto “Material Self: Performing the Other Within,” Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada
“Noah’s Ark – Works Based on Collection,” Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo
“Japon: Les Printemps de Haute Corréze,” Abbaye St André Centre d’art contemporain, Meymac, France
“A Collective Invention: Photographs at Play,” The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, USA
2013
“2013-3 Collection Exhibition: The Power of Solitude,” Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
“Drone: The Automated Image,” 13thedition of Le Mois de la Photo á Montréal, MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), Montreal, Canada
“ABOUT FACE: CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITURE,” The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA
“Otherness. I is somebody else,” ESPACE CULTUREL LOUIS VUITTON, Paris, France
“Fotografia Europea 2013,” Reggio Emilia, Italy
“DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition 2013,” The National Art Center, Tokyo, Tokyo
2012
“PHOTOGRAPHY MEETS INDUSTRY,” GD4PHOTOART, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Italy
“The Serial Portrait: Photography and Identity in the Last One Hundred Years,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
“Charlotte Rampling – Albums Secrets,” Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
“Riotous Profusion of Beauty: Women: As We Live Now,” Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa
“TIME, PLACE AND THE CAMERA: PHOTOGRAPHS AT WORK,” The National Gallery of Kosovo, Prishtina, Kosovo
“Masquerade,” Coreana Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
“Factory Direct: Pittsburgh,” The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA
“Creating with Light: The Manipulated Photograph,” Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (currently Tokyo Photographic Art Museum), Tokyo
“In Character: Artists’ Role Play in Photography and Video,” Addison Gallery of American Art: Phillips Academy, Andover, USA
“Art as Magic Visionary Artist Their Inner Supernatural World,” Aichi Prefectural Museum of art, Aichi
“The 1st Collection Gallery Exhibition 2012-2013: Beyond the Conceptual photography,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto
“Behind the Curtain-The Aesthetics of the Photobooth,” Musée de l‘Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; BOTANIQUE, Brussels, Belgium
2011
“Art by Five Senses PartⅡ,” Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum, Nagano
“Nostalgia: East Asia Contemporary Art Exhibition,” The Korean Foundation Cultural Center Gallery, Seoul, Korea; MOCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
“Collections Ⅱ 2011 – New Acquisitions,” Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo
“2011 Changwon Asian Art Festival Self – Self Camera: Repositioning Modern – Self,” Sungsan Art-Hall, Changwon, Korea
“From the Recent Past: New Acquisitions,” The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA
“Conversations Photography from the Bank of America Collection,” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, USA
2010
“SEIAN FRONTIER volume.1,” Seian University of Arts and Design Gallery Art Site, Shiga
“Provocateurs of Japanese Photography,” Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, USA
“face to face,” ROSEGALLERY, Santa Monica, USA
“INDEX 1.0, FIFTY ONE FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY,” New York, USA
“My Favorites – Index of a Certain Collection: Selections from the MoMAK Collection,” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto

Awards

2019 - The 14th Kobe Nagata Culture Prize
2012 - GD4PHOTOART Photography competition [finalist]
2008 - The Higashikawa Awards [new photographer]
2007 - The Kyoto Prefecture Culture Prize
2006 - Bleue Mer Award
2005 - Kobe City Award of Encouragement for Cultural Activities
2004 - 29th Kimura Ihei Award
2004 - The Twentieth Annual ICP Infinity Awards [young photographer prize]
2004 - Hyogo Arts Promotion Award
2000 - CANON New Cosmos of Photography 2000 [special prize]

Collections

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan / Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France / The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA / International Center of Photography, New York, USA / Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA / Joy of Giving Something, Inc., New York, USA / Norton Family Collection, New York, USA / MAK, Vienna, Austria / The Essl Collection, Klosterneuburg, Austria / Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA /The Sculpture Garden Museum, Vangi Museo, Japan / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA / Davis Museum and Cultural Center, USA / Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA / Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Japan / Hyogo prefectural Museum of Art, Japan / National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA / SAMMLUNG VERBUND, Wien, Austria / Andy Warhol Foundation, Pittsburgh, USA / The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA / Taguchi Art Collection, Japan / Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA

Books from Tomoko SAWADA

I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now

Mikiko HARA, HIROMIX, Mao ISHIKAWA, Miyako ISHIUCHI, Mari KATAYAMA, Rinko KAWAUCHI, Hiroko KOMATSU, Michiko KON, Yurie NAGASHIMA, Asako NARAHASHI, Mika NINAGAWA, Tamiko NISHIMURA, Rika NOGUCHI, Sakiko NOMURA, Momo OKABE, Toshiko OKANOUE, Yuki ONODERA, Tomoko SAWADA, Lieko SHIGA, Kunie SUGIURA, Yuki TAWADA, Toyoko TOKIWA, Tokuko USHIODA, Hitomi WATANABE, Eiko YAMAZAWA, Miwa YANAGI

$93.07 $79.11