Hideka Tonomura — soul trip

Dates: October 25 (Fri) — November 30 (Sat), 2024

Talk Session: Hideka Tonomura × Ihiro Hayami (Founder of T3 Photo Festival Tokyo): November 22 (Fri), 2024 18:00-19:00

Zen Foto Gallery is delighted to present “Soul Trip”, an exhibition of photographs by Hideka Tonomura from Friday, October 25th to Saturday, November 30th. Through the love between Tonomura’s grandfather, who is Korean and her grandmother who is Japanese, “Soul Trip” questions what it means for people to love each other. The work was shown for the first time at the exhibition “Transcendence”, an associate programme produced by Kyotographie and Sigma and supported by Kering, at this year’s Arles International Photography Festival (1 July – 29 September) and received a lot of exposure. This exhibition at our gallery and at T3 Photo Asia (19-21 October) will be the first time this work is shown in Japan. In conjunction with the exhibition, Zen Foto Gallery will publish a photobook under the same title.

“My trip to Seoul evolved into a trip to the very ‘soul’ of my grandfather and grandmother.

The love between my grandfather and grandmother transcended national borders.
They lived in love from the time they crossed three mountains in Tsuruga to the time of their death, but at the time there was profound sadness surrounding the border of Japan and Korea. This sorrow echoed like someone’s scream of hatred, which resonated through my grandparents’ love, and roared darkly within me too.

My first trip to Seoul was in 2012.
I felt as if I had left half my heart behind, as if it was burning inside me.
I fell in love with Seoul.

The journey was full of strange coincidences, and was blessed with friendships, 
the presence of which melted my sadness away.
Korea, which I had once regarded as dark and distant, came to shimmer with light.

My grandmother, who was Japanese, died as a Korean, wearing the Korean bridal gown she requested.

Love is freedom.
And freedom is a heavy thing.

My grandmother’s strong will taught me what it means to love someone.

Life is not a matter of chance but of necessities, and the source of life is love
Just as my grandparents simply loved each other —
Let us simply love.

Let us simply love, despite the sadness of borders and the voices of hatred.

My love for Seoul has become one of my most beautiful memories, which lives in my life alongside the souls of my grandparents.”

—Hideka Tonomura

Inquiry for details

Artist Profile

Hideka TONOMURA

Born in 1979, 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 her family’s dark, hidden secrets, which made an unforgettable impression on the public. In 2013 she published “They Called Me Yukari” with Zen Foto Gallery, documenting the life and people around her when she worked as a hostess in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. Her other publications include “Orange Elephant” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2015), “cheki” (Morel Books, 2018), “die of love” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2018), “SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2020), “mama 恋 love” [New Edition] 
(Zen Foto Gallery, 2021), “Toxic” (Zen Foto Gallery, 2022) and “They Called Me Yukari [New Edition] (Zen Foto Gallery, 2023).

Actively presenting her work in and out of Japan, she participated in the group exhibitions 
“Shikijo: Eroticism in Japanese Photography”, Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong (2016); 
Daiwa Foundation Japan House Gallery, London (2018); “10/10 Celebrating Contemporary Japanese Women Photographers”, Kyotographie, Kyoto (2022), “Love Songs”, La MEP – La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (2022), and the Arles International Photography Festival Associate Programme “Transcendence” (2024).

Tonomura launched the “SHINING WOMAN PROJECT” in 2019, a portrait project dedicated to women fighting cancer. In 2022, her debut work “Mama Love” was collected by the MEP – La Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris.