Mika Ninagawa
“ Happiness Self Portrait 1996 ”
1996Excellence Award
ARTIST STATEMENT
Happiness Self Portrait 1996
First, because it's not a job, I never photograph on days I don't feel like it. When I do photograph, I simply photograph what I want without setting a theme. What I'm careful with most is choosing among the results, and deciding the sequence and how to combine them. To show the results in the best way, in my case, I spend more time and labor on that than actually photographing. Like eating food when hungry, like going to bed when sleepy, like wanting to stay with the someone you love when you fall in love, taking self-portraits for me is a natural instinct. When I'm taking photos in a closed space with just me and the camera, I almost feel as if I'm traveling within myself. From my tiny room with clothes scattered all over the place, the camera easily takes me to an unreal world with tremendous expanse. On a day with nice weather, I set up a tripod and absentmindedly shoot photos by myself. To have this relaxed and luxurious time to myself, and to have this daily life of mine recognized like this, I am really full of happiness at this moment.
Selecting judge: Kotaro Iizawa
Lately, I've had the opportunity to see Mika Ninagawa's works at various screenings, but by switching from black-and-white to color copies, I feel her talent has come into full bloom. The graphically processed colors and film clash with the raw feel of reality unique to photos, and create a state something like an overall screen covered with a halation. Not only that, her image editing and abilities to lightly pick up herself and the things around her and reconstruct them are well exhibited in this work. There's no awkwardness whatsoever in the performance in the photos. If that natural theatrical talent is tied in with a more precise observation of humans, there's a possibility that she will develop into an unprecedented new type of photographer.
1996Excellence Award