Asako Shimizu

Asako Shimizu is a Tokyo-based professional photographer. Her interest lies in representing that it is comforting to touch the rich energy of nature, which helps to free oneself from closed patterns of thinking. The expression combines the philosophical spirit inspired by the Asian area of her birth. In her photographing process, she prefers “coincidences in photographing” mixed with her own premeditation or plan. For example, shooting pictures in stormy or snowy weather sometimes brought unexpected beautiful results.  

For her, a camera is a tool that could give away some tiny messages about the world she feels. It dawned on her that she could be “a mediator” between a subject and her camera lens. The world is diverse. She also tries not to judge whilst photographing so that she best succeeds in expressing the spiritual feeling emanating from her subjects as a go-between.

'Asako Shimizu’s unique approach towards photography is derived from her belief in the original power of camera to visualize emotions which beyond our visual perceptions. As an artist, she disciplines her self-express impulsion and instead let a machine interacts to the world and focus images of unexpected figures and values inherited to a subject. This objective sense makes the series of works narrative and fantastic providing the pure joy of integrating ourselves into the images.' - Minako Ishii, Art curator

Shimizu was born in 1969 in Tokyo and currently resides in Kanagawa, Japan. She started her career at a Japanese publishing company called “Magazine House” as a staff photographer after graduating from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Photography in 1993. In 2006, the series “On Her Skin”received an award from New Cosmos Photography, sponsored by Canon, by judge Mr Nanjo Fumio, a chief director of Mori Museum. For the first time in Europe the series has been featured at Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam, 2013. Based in Tokyo, Asako Shimizu has been participated in numerous exhibitions including a group show at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.