michiko chiyoda

Michiko Chiyoda ⁄ 千代田路子

Profile

I majored in graphic design at the university and learned photography at the same time. After graduating, I got a job as a designer at an advertising agency, and changed the job to the advertising and the public relations of the optical manufacturer. Then, I have seriously started making photography artworks. My creating process is like a journey through the world I happened to fall in love with at the moment. And the journey is triggered by my memories, sentiments, thirstiness, or ambivalences deep inside of me. I feel, learn, and experience the world, and I extract my inner face. During the journey, a word finds me and starts stimulating my creative juice to flow to tell a story to be shared through my work.
In addition to various solo and group exhibitions not only domestically but also overseas, I have had actual achievements to be adopted by web magazines, winning awards, and being collected by an art museum and a photo foundation. Recent Activities
・2022 : Photo Exhibition / RECONEXIÓN — Michiko Chiyoda(JP),Tali,Kimelman(UY),Uruguay
・2021 : Special Exhibition,Tokyo
・2021 : Photo Exhibition / International Photo Project , Italy
・2019 : Solo exhibition / Fondo Malerba Foto Graphia, Italy
・2019 : Photo Exhibition / Novosibirsk International Festival of Contemporary Photography, Russia.

Collection
・Fondo Malerba Foto Graphia in Italy
・Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA., U.S.

大学ではグラフィックデザインを専攻、同時に写真を学ぶ。卒業後は広告代理店にデザイナーとして就職。その後、光学メーカーの広報宣伝部門への転職を機に本格的に写真による作品づくりを始める。 私にとって作品を作ることは、自分の内面にある記憶や感情、欲求や迷いなどの衝動がきっかけとなって、その時、心惹かれた世界を旅するようなものだと思う。その過程で、学び、様々な体験をし、そしてまた内面を深く見つめていく。時に、自分にとって新たな価値を持った言葉に出会うことがある。私はそれを物語にして、作品を通じて語りたいと思っている。 国内外での個展の開催、グループ展への参加などの活動に加え、雑誌やウェブマガジンへの作品掲載、コンテストでの受賞、美術館や写真財団での作品収蔵の実績がある。
最近の活動 2019-2022
・2022 : RECONEXIÓN 展—Michiko Chiyoda(JP), Tali Kimelman(UY), ウルグアイ
・2021 : 「五百羅漢修復 祈りの継承」展、東京
・2021 : International Photo Project、イタリア
・2019 : 個展 Fondo Malerba Foto Graphia, イタリア
・2019 : Novosibirsk International Festival of Contemporary Photography、ロシア

コレクション
・Fondo Malerba Foto Graphia in イタリア
・Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA., 米国

Projects

The works I have published which are based on my own experiences of losing family members and close friends and asking myself how I can live with great sadness and anguish. Then, I realized that "empathy for the grief of others", "mourning", and "prayer" had the power to save me, so I created the works to convey this message.
My latest work is based on the theme of restoring Buddhist statues. People offer prayers to Buddha statues, and these prayers connect the statues to the future. In other words, to inherit a Buddhist statue is to connect people's "wishes" and "prayers" from the past to the present, and to the future. Hence the title is "Inheritance of Prayers”.

私がこれまで発表した作品は、私自身が家族や親しい友人を亡くし、大きな悲しみや苦悩を抱え ながら人はどう生きていけばいいのか、自問自答した経験をもとにしたものだ。そ して、「他者の悲しみへの共感」「弔うこと」「祈り」には自分を救う力があるこ とに気づき、作品を通じてメッセージを伝えるようとした。 最新作は、仏像の修復をテーマにしてる。人々は仏像に祈りを捧げ、その祈りが仏 像を未来に繋いでいく。つまり、仏像を受け継ぐということは、過去から現在、そ して未来へと人々の「願い」や「祈り」を繋いでいくである。それゆえ、タイトル を「祈りの継承」としている。

The Inheritance of Prayer — Renovation of the Five Hundred Rakan(2019-2021)
When I encountered the Five Hundred Rakan awaiting renovation, I was instantly mesmerized by their overwhelming presence and beauty. Over time, scars had formed everywhere. Why I do find beauty also in such deterioration? I wished to capture the presence of the Five Hundred Rakan and the conservator’s work in pictures and preserve these precious moments for the next generations.
五百羅漢修復— 祈りの継承
修復を待つ五百羅漢の姿を目にした時、圧倒的な存在感と美しさに魅了された。 仏像の体に残された数々の「時」の痕跡。傷つき変容するその姿をなぜ美しいと感じるのか。私は五百羅漢と、そして羅漢を後世につなぐ修復家の仕事を写真で残したいと思った。
・Media Size : 594x420mm(23.4x16.5inch)
・Image Size : 530x354mm(20.9x13.9inch)
・Edition: 10
・Media : ILFORD Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag
・Number of works : 50
・Project progress : Completed

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The Inheritance of Prayer(EN)

I am ready to dream a dream with her (2018 - 2020)
In 2016, I took a role of a photographer to document an artist’s work who is a friend of mine living her life as a Christian in Hiroshima and creates beautiful flowers from fabric. Our collaboration resulted in a book published in 2018. Its theme was “prayer.” “Prayer means dialogue with him, and my flowers embody it,” she often said. She always seemed to be imperturbably calm, and I was mysteriously moved by that. Despite the fact she was fighting her illness, she still managed to continue with her work and always managed to be composed and at peace. I couldn’t help but to believe it is the prayer in the core of her mind. I visited Nagatsuka Monastery in Hiroshima which she was associated with, to understand and to know where her firm belief came from. I have to say that I could just find it hard for me. But when I came to feel my intention to keep creating works with her, no matter what the consequence of her illness, one thing came clear to me was that I could keep prayer in my mind for it as a dream. My latest work is my tribute to the artist whom I shared indescribably beautiful time with, and for the inspiration and motivation I will be forever given by her.
私は彼女と長い夢をみる
2016年、私は布で花を造るアーティストの作品集制作の撮影を担当した。彼女は、広島在住の友人でクリスチャン。作品集のテーマは「祈りを捧げる」というものだった。「祈りとは対話。そして作品は祈りそのもの」と彼女は語り、私は彼女の揺るぎない言葉に感動を覚えた。 当時、彼女は闘病していたが、いつも悠々として静かで、 彼女の中心に「祈り」があると感じた私はその感動の手がかりを得たいと思い、彼女とゆかりのある長束修道院(広島市)に通った。 彼女のように祈りを捧げるということは難しいと感じたが、彼女の病状の推移がどうであれ、一緒に作品を作り続ける夢を持てば、その夢に向かって祈り続けられると思った。この作品は多くの時間を分かち合った彼女への追悼であり、また、彼女とのこれからも続く物語である
・Print Size : 329x483mm(13x19in), Image size: 260x260mm(10x10 in)
・Edition: 5
・Paper: Japanese traditional handmade paper ( AWAGAMI KOZO Double-layered )
・Number of worksː23
・Project progressː finished

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「 I am ready to dream a dream with her」Letter to her

Starting a New Journey (2016-2018)
When my mother passed away, I was completely lost. I was caught by not only the feeling of sorrow but complicated feeling that I couldn’t express. I had no idea how I live with these feelings. More or less, everyone experiences “the loss” in their lives. While I have traveled places where my mother might have wanted to visit or the place where I could contact with the lost loved one, I kept thinking about the fundamental theme of “loss”.
母が亡くなったとき私は悲しみだけでない複雑な思いに囚われ、この思いを抱えてどう生きていけばいいのか途方にくれた。母が旅したかった場所や亡き人に会えるという地などを旅しながら、私は誰しも体験する「喪失」という根源的なテーマを考え続けた。
・Print Size: 495x355mm(19.5x14 in), Image size: 405x270mm(16x11 in), 270x270mm(11x11 in)
・Edition: 7
・Paper: Japanese traditional handmade paper (ISE Washi FUSYO)
・Number of works:21
・Project progressː finished

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Starting a New Journey

OSHICHI  (2014-2016)
One day, I came across a Japanese doll. I was so inspired by this old tragic love story that I started making a pilgrimage. During the trip, I saw the landscape, resonating with their souls. The scenery seemed so pure. It is because I’ve realized we carry the same fate of sorrow.
私はある人形との出会いにより、日本の古い悲劇的な愛の物語を知り、彼らの巡礼をたどる旅に出た。やがて私は彼らの魂に共鳴しながら風景を見ていた。その風景がどこまでも透徹だったのは、互いの中に「同じ宿命を背負うものの悲しみ」を見たからだ。
・Print Size: 380x400mm(15x15.7 in), Image size: 290x290mm(11.4x11.4 in)
・Edition: 10
・Paper: Japanese traditional handmade paper (ISE Washi FUSYO)
・Number of works:18
・Project progressː finished

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Starting a New Journey

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