Sayuri Ichida
JAPAN
Sayuri Ichida is a London based Japanese artist working in photography. Ichida’s practice focuses on themes of self-identity, reflecting her own memory and life experience. In her photographs, she explores the complexities of emotional state by portraying the human form. She also examines ideas of loss and mortality by utilizing photo archives.
After graduating from Tokyo Visual Arts College in 2006, she began her career in the commercial photography industry first in Tokyo, and later in New York. In 2016, she decided to shift her focus to art photography, eventually leading her to the University of Westminster where she completed an MA with Distinction in Photography Arts in 2021.
Her work has been recognized at numerous exhibitions and has received multiple awards. She won the Japan Photo Award in 2016 for her Deja Vu series - a house series inspired by the memory of her childhood dollhouse. Her series Mayu - named after a Japanese ballet dancer - was selected for several group shows presented at Unseen Photo Festival (Amsterdam, 2018), Photo Saint Germain (Paris, 2018), IMA Gallery (Tokyo, 2018), and Asama International Photo Festival (Nagano, 2019). Her work featuring Gabrielle Chanel’s Paris apartment was on exhibit at IMA Gallery as part of CHANEL’s MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ show in Tokyo. She was selected to participate in the group show, TODAY is - Next generations of DAIDO MORIYAMA in 2019. Her solo show Fumiko will be held at PhMuseum Lab in May 2022. She released her first self-published artist book, Absentee, in 2021, and her second artist book Fumiko will be published in 2022.
'“I look for beauty in scenes that evoke a sense of nostalgia and timelessness, two elements that are fundamental to my work.”
• SERIES •
Absentee
Absentee
In Absentee, Sayuri Ichida focuses on the temporality of human existence. Centered around the female body, placed alongside everyday objects which are often forgotten, the boundary between the human figure and the man-made objects disappears and merges, to suggest a constantly changing state of being. This body of work reflects a sense of detachment, an absence of self and of reality.
After she lost her mother in her late teens, Ichida shielded herself from thoughts about death. However, 15 years later, the psychological impact of the global pandemic triggered a period of sadness and grief. Creating this series enabled Ichida to overcome emotional difficulties such as uncertainty and anxiety, caused by the reminder of death. Objects gradually reveal their presence, hinting at various emotional states. The visual dichotomy between the curves of the body and the hard, artificial lines seen in man-made objects reflects the way her emotional state fluctuates between calm and anxiety.
We have a tendency to neglect our own mortality. Our attempt to avoid death thoughts is inevitably challenged and we are forced to acknowledge our own fragility. A visceral awareness sometimes surfaces, reminding us of the transience of life.