The 52-year-old is an award-winning photographer with an unmistakable style; a film and TV series director whose works, such as the manga adaptation тАЬHelter SkelterтАЭ (2012) and the Netflix original series тАЬFollowersтАЭ (2020), explore identity and desire with visceral allure; and a music video director who has collaborated with major Japanese acts like AKB48 and international stars such as Alicia Keys.
Her photos captivate with lush palettes and dreamlike nature motifs balancing the flowery and the dark, often juxtaposing the ephemeral and the eternal in her art, now brought to its most expansive scale in the exhibition тАЬNinagawa Mika with EiM: Lights of the beyond, Shadows of this worldтАЭ at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art, Higashiyama Cube.
The museum, close to the Higashiyama mountains, is a majestic setting, and NinagawaтАЩs evocative compositions have enveloped KyoceraтАЩs partially transparent Higashiyama Cube, making use of the spaceтАЩs interplay of light and openness. Ninagawa notes that Kyoto, a city where architecture whispers the passage of time, had a strong influence on her work.
