shashasha

Featuring more than 300 images, “Keep an Eye Shut” provides a comprehensive summary of Hanayo’s past 30 years in photography.

At the age of 19, when she was training as a geisha, Hanayo began taking photographs using her father’s old camera. Her fresh, lively style pioneered the “girly photography” style that became popular in Japan in the 1990s. Hanayo’s career as a multidisciplinary artist saw her model for Gaultier and adorn the cover of The Face magazine; as a musician, she collaborated with many international artist; in London, she took part in exhibitions curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist; after her move to Berlin in 1999, she worked with film director Christoph Schlingensief. Throughout her multidisciplinary career, Hanayo kept on taking photographs, frequently releasing her works in photobooks.

“Hanayo employs a diverse array of different forms of expression – the word “photographer” is inadequate to describe her many talents. As an artist and woman, she has bravely sailed forth through different eras in her own, unique style. She has a distinctive career and body of work. Just who is Hanayo?
In a way, the volume seems to symbolize the life of the photographer herself, while also acting as a mirror of the era – revealing to us the beauty, or the ephemerality, of the world.”
— from the publisher’s description