Carefully capture the passionate emotions that can be seen deep within the silence in a single photograph
From June 20th to 29th, 2025, MIN GALLERY will host a two-person exhibition by jewelry artist Saito Kayo and photographer Miyahama Yumiko.
The two previously held a two-person exhibition, "atmosphere," at the same gallery in spring 2022, but three years have passed since then, the world has changed, and various thoughts have passed through the hearts of the two. This time, although the methods of expression are different, jewelry and photography, the two will tackle a new theme and present their works.
What are the thoughts of each artist in holding this two-person exhibition? For the first issue, we asked Miyahama Yumiko about her current state of mind. Miyahama has been taking photos of crafts, food, and travel for many years. She is an extremely popular photographer, and her name can be seen daily in art and lifestyle magazines and books. However, there is one piece of photography that she continues to confront, and that is the theme that Miyahama herself, as an artist and a Japanese person, continues to explore: "Where are my roots, my soil?"
Yumiko Miyahama, a photographer who keeps running without a profile
If you like cookbooks or lifestyle books, surely not a day goes by without seeing the name "Miyahama Yumiko." This person's achievements are so remarkable that it makes you think so. With her gentle demeanor and quiet, cheerful smile. While I hesitate to use the somewhat tomboyish word "popular," I still think of Miyahama Yumiko as exactly that kind of person.
However, in fact, throughout her 21-year career as a photographer, she has also cherished and nurtured another side to herself: that of the artist Miyahama Yumiko.
Even if you search for his career on the internet, very little information comes up, and Miyahama has been busy working as, in his own words, "an untitled person with no profile." While doing the work in front of him, he has steadily brought to fruition the creativity and desire for expression that lies within him as an artist, shining a light on a small target that seems far away.
From his first solo exhibition, "Memories of Earth," held in 2016.
"In 2016, 12 years after I started working in photography, I mobilized my connections, the photos I had taken, and a great deal of determination to hold my first solo exhibition, 'Memories of Earth.' The works I created at that time were composed of flowers and vessels. Rather than arranging them and taking pictures, I took separate pictures of the flowers and vessels and then overlaid them at the development stage. This was the method I used to create the works. The flowers are rooted in the earth, and the vessels are formed using soil from various regions and then fired to completion. Both are works of art woven together by the earth. Flowers, vessels, and travel scenery have always been important motifs for me, but this time I realized once again that I cannot get away from the 'existence of earth.'" (Miyahama)
Born and raised in Sendai, culture shock in Tokyo
Miyahama was born and raised in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. In his own words, he grew up in a "typical Showa-era family," surrounded by his father who worked in the Western liquor department of a trading company that handled imported foods, his mother who was a full-time housewife who loved cooking, and his older brother who loved cameras.
"My brother, who loves cameras, later got a single-lens reflex camera and later gave it to me. Looking back, I was already using cameras at that time," says Miyahama.
Miyahama's father, who worked with overseas clients, bought him fashion magazines full of foreign tastes. Due to this influence, the first job that Miyahama aspired to and got into was a lifestyle company that handled fashion and miscellaneous goods.
"I got a job in Sendai, but soon asked to be transferred to the company's Tokyo office, and moved there. It was my first time living alone, and my first time living in Tokyo. In the 1990s, Tokyo was still very much into magazine culture and nightlife, and I was surrounded by fashionable people both at work and in my private life. In this dizzying lifestyle, I was busy every day trying to satisfy my many curiosities." (Miyahama)
After leaving his first company, he was put in charge of a cafe in Aoyama, but his lifestyle of witnessing the breath of the times continued unabated. As he managed the store, frequented by editors, art directors and other people, Miyahama began to think that he wanted to work in a position where he could create things and experiences. He started attending photography school, and finally, in his mid-twenties, he took the first step on the path that leads to his current state. He later worked as an assistant at the house studio "pen studio" in Kinuta.
These two precious "friends," which Miyahama continued to use from his time in Sendai until he moved to Tokyo, still quietly watch over his life today.
The moment I realized what I was there to photograph
When asked about what kind of photos Miyahama took while working at the studio and after going independent, he answered shyly, "I took photos of everything, with all my heart and soul. That was my job, and I just couldn't help but enjoy taking pictures."
"At that time, magazines and the media were at their peak, or rather, they were very passionate. There were many people who were active as star photographers. I worked at a house studio where a lot of the shoots were done using natural light, so photographers and stylists that I respected came and went every day, and I was blessed with great colleagues. Even after I went independent, I had friends and acquaintances who introduced me to a lot of work, and I was grateful for that, but I began to think that taking photos alone wasn't enough for me." (Miyahama)
Gradually, a question began to occupy Miyahama's mind. The more he liked photography, the more he began to think, "Why do I take photos? What should I photograph? What role does photography play?"
The moment I heard it, I felt like I understood it. That's because we live in a world where anyone can record and express anything at any time using a smartphone. Of course, there is the meaning of the existence of professional photographers, but I thought that photographers and photography enthusiasts all over the world must be wondering what is required of a photograph as a work of art.
The quiet yet powerful power of photography that embraces the flow of time
Miyahama says that photography has characteristics that set it apart from other forms of art. For example, when making pottery, you knead clay, shape it, apply glaze, and then fire it to finish it. It takes time to complete, but photography is a kind of unique genre that records that accumulated time in an instant, both simply and as a recording medium.
Still, Miyahama says, "When you combine this with the concept of time, I think there is nothing more fascinating than this."
"I love looking at the works of contemporary photographers and overseas photographers, but the works of Japanese photographers active in the early Showa period are also fondly remembered. People like Taikichi Irie, Ihei Kimura, and Shoji Ueda... When they pressed the shutter, the scenery they captured was the everyday life of Japan at the time. But the expressions of children walking mindlessly through the backstreets of Nara and the majestic scenery of shrines and temples give viewers an overwhelming presence and emotion today. It is because they were captured through their eyes, with taste and intention, that they continue to live on as 'works of art'. That is the beauty of photography." (Miyahama)
Looking at the works he exhibited at his first solo exhibition "Memories of Earth" in 2016, nine years later, new emotions overflow. Since then, in the face of the epidemic and war that has engulfed the world, there is a gentleness that seems to warmly encourage us, as if to tell us that "no matter what happens, flowers and people will continue to live." I thought that the mission of photography was to capture fleeting moments, but Miyahama's photographs are filled with a serenity that seems to teach us something fundamental.
From a work exhibited at the two-person exhibition "atmosphere" to be held in 2022. A photograph capturing the expression deep within the daffodil.
Following on from the previous article where I photographed the signs of flowers, I will look for the roots of flowers in the soil.
When asked about his impression of Saito Kayo, who is appearing for the second time following the two-person exhibition "atmosphere" in 2022, he said, "Saito's works have a delicate yet powerful vitality. And rather than being seductive and gorgeous, they are delicate and quiet. They have a dignified yet somewhat hidden atmosphere, and I feel a sense of closeness to them, as if we are looking in the same direction." So, what about Miyahama's own works?
"In our last two-person exhibition, my work also focused on flowers. In the world of fresh flowers, there is a technique of arranging flowers so that they face away from you. I think it is because of this consideration to allow the other person to appreciate the beauty of the flowers, and in keeping with this, I tried to photograph the flowers from the background when I photographed them last time. I was interested in the back of the drooping flowers and the expression of the calyx. Since then, I have continued to think about the life of flowers, and now I want to photograph the existence of the soil that produces those flowers." (Miyahama)
Having decided to photograph soil, Miyahama has since traveled into the mountains of Tohoku and confronted the strata along the coast of Awaji Island, said to be the birthplace of the Japanese land. Literally covered in soil and sand, he seems to be continuing to search for the soil that is his own humanity.
Earth, the great presence that envelops life, was a major theme in working on this two-person exhibition.
Searching for and photographing universally beautiful things in nature
Miyahama said, "It is exactly the things that I want to capture and keep in a photograph those that I will continue to love unchanged for 10 or 20 years from now." Hearing this, I felt certain that the things Miyahama photographs were beautiful 10 or 100 years ago. "At a certain moment when I'm wandering in nature, my 'earth sensor' goes off and tells me what to photograph," Miyahama said jokingly, but I think the sensor in her heart has a mysterious power to capture universal values.
The works in this two-person exhibition have been meticulously designed to enhance the unique worldview of the photographer, from the paper they print on to the framing and size. Please come and see Miyahama's photographs, which instantly draw the viewer into the world of the photograph and speak to them as if they were old friends.
Photographer
Yumiko Miyahama
Born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1976 , she has been interested in fashion and styling since she was a child, and after getting a job, she was transferred within the company and moved to Tokyo. After working in a lifestyle shop and a cafe, she was hired at the house studio " pen studio " in Nakameguro. It was around this time that she decided to pursue photography as a career, and became independent in her late 20s . She continues to work mainly on photographing food, travel, and crafts. In 2014 , she held her first solo exhibition "Memories of the Earth". In 2022 , she will hold a two-person exhibition " atmosphere " with Saito Kayo at MIN GALLERY .
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Text by Mayuko Yamaguchi
Photo by Yumiko Miyahama
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