Miki Fukumoto “Wadatsumi－God of the Sea”

Dates: September 12 (Fri) — November 1 (Sat), 2025

Talk Event: Miki Fukumoto × Mark Pearson: September 20 (Sat), 2025 17:00-18:00

Opening Reception: September 20 (Sat), 2025 18:00-19:00

Zen Foto Gallery is pleased to present Miki Fukumoto’s photography exhibition, “Wadatsumi — God of the Sea”, from September 12 (Friday) to November 1 (Saturday), 2025. This will be Fukumoto’s first solo exhibition at Zen Foto Gallery.

The exhibition will feature selected works from her photobook of the same title, published in June this year. Born in Kobe, Japan, Fukumoto studied photography under Daido Moriyama and currently works as a freelance photographer. She has been visiting fishing ports in different parts of Japan for over ten years starting from around 2010, taking photographs of the fisherpeople and landscapes in those areas. The culmination of these efforts was compiled in her latest publication.

During the exhibition, there will be a talk discussion between Miki Fukumoto and our gallery director Mark Pearson on September 20 (Saturday).

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After publishing À Paris, my photo book about Paris in 2010, I decided to photograph Japan. I started thinking about how I could take photos of Japan in my own way, because other people had already taken so many different photos of the country. As someone who loves the sea, I travelled around the coast, harbours and fishing ports. When I took photos of fishing ports, I felt a special kind of atmosphere that felt right at home in my heart. I thought this was something unique to Japan, so I went around taking photographs of fishing ports and fishermen in various regions.

One day, as I was struggling to find a title for all the photos I had taken, the word “Wadatsumi” came to mind. A few years later, while visiting the fishing port of Atsumi Onsen in Yamagata Prefecture, I spotted a fishing boat named Wadatsumi. It happened to be the boat of the owner of the inn where I was staying, Mr Kasuya, who is also a fisherman. He told me that Wadatsumi was the god of the Azumi tribe. The tribe was known for living by the sea in ancient Japan. After that, I continued to meet and photograph wonderful people and sights on my travels, as if guided by Wadatsumi.

— Miki Fukumoto

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Artist Profile

Miki Fukumoto

Born in 1966 in Kobe, Japan, Miki Fukumoto graduated from the Photography Department of Osaka Visual Arts College. She studied under Daido Moriyama, as she established a career as a freelance photographer.

Since 2010, she has continued to photograph fishing ports and people living on the sea in various regions of Japan, capturing a unique atmosphere in her work.

Her solo exhibitions include “Ciel” (Galerie L’Escalier, Auxerre, 2025; Pâtisserie-Chocolaterie Masaki Yamamoto, Arles, 2021–2022, 2024), “Rhapsodie Wadatsumi” (Pâtisserie-Chocolaterie Masaki Yamamoto, Arles, 2023), “Rencontre Inattendue” (Pâtisserie-Chocolaterie Masaki Yamamoto, Arles, 2019), “Bleue Vague” (Kobe Fashion Museum Gallery, Kobe, 2010), “à paris” (Osaka Visual Arts Gallery, Osaka, 2010; Gallery Sokyusha, Tokyo, 2010; Place M, Tokyo, 2007), “Rock in the Shinjuku” (Place M, Tokyo, 1998), and “Swing” (Place M, Tokyo, 1997). In 2019, she participated in the Incheon International Maritime Media Festival (also known as Culture City of East Asia 2019 Incheon Photography and Film Festival) in South Korea.

In 1999, she was the recipient of the MIO Photo Award, and in 2010, she published a collection of Paris street snapshots entitled “à paris”, published by Sokyusha.