ZEN FOTO GALLERY

Born in 1979, in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture, Hideka Tonomura graduated from the Broadcasting and Filmmaking Department of Osaka Visual Arts School and began photography in 2002. She published her first photobook “mama love” in 2008 with Akaaka Art Publishing, revealing her deepest pain and the dark, hidden secrets of her family, leaving an unforgettable impression. In 2013 she published “They called me Yukari” with Zen Foto Gallery, in which she documented the life and people around her when she was working as a hostess in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. Actively presenting her work in and out of Japan, her recent publications include “orange elephant” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2015), “cheki” (Morel Books, 2018), and “die of love” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2018). Having experienced cancer diagnosis and treatment herself in 2019, Hideka started the “Shining Woman Project”—a portrait project dedicated to women who fight cancer. A publication on the project is scheduled to be released near the end of 2020. Her series “mama love” will be exhibited at Maison Européenne de la Photographie in 2022.