This latest publication by French photographer Maki includes images taken between 2001 and 2015 during many visits to Japan. The high-contrast black-and-white photos, from streetsnaps to portraits, landscapes and the occasional erotic image, paint a manifold picture of Maki’s extensive experience of Japan while avoiding the common mistake of needless orientalism.
Says Russet Lederman in her essay “A Journey to Japan Somewhere”: “Maki approaches photography as a series of open-ended encounters experienced from both inside and outside Japanese culture. (...) "Japan Somewhere" travels both figuratively and literally into Japan’s back alleys.”

Artist Profile

Maki

Born and based in Marseille, France, Maki is a photographer, publisher, DJ and radio producer.

He began taking photographs as a teenager and studied photography at school in the early 80's.

He began his photographic career by trying out different disciplines, working as an assistant photographer in an industrial and advertising photography studio, photographer for a modeling agency... He then photographed the European cities with which he was connected (Venice, Barcelona, Marseille, etc.), which led him to hold his first personal exhibition in Marseille in 1986.

Disappointed by the world of photography, he stopped shooting for a few years before returning to photography with a more personal and experimental approach.

In 2001, he traveled to Japan for the first time and began photographing and building his series entitled "Japan Somewhere", from which he later published his eponymous book with Zen Foto Gallery.

In 2007, Maki was a founding member of the European photography collective SMOKE.

In 2010, he founded Média Immédiat Editions and published a collection of mini-photobooks. To date, 11 mini-books have been published with Onaka Koji, Morten Andersen, Ed Templeton, Ichiba Daisuke, and others.

Maki has exhibited his work in Europe and Japan and has been featured in numerous international publications.