Free shipping to France on orders over 50€

Masako Tomiya

Kito

Masako Tomiya follows the passage of time through nature’s renewal and births, where the figure of the woman is omnipresent.

Masako Tomiya is a photographer originally from the region of Aomori, north Japan. She has lived in Tokyo for years, and one day, she received news that her sister and sister-in-law, who live near her hometown, were both pregnant. This news inspired Tomiya’s series Kito, a reflection on identity, family, transmission and the passing of time.

“Kito” means “homeward” in Japanese. Inverted, “toki” takes on a completely different meaning: “time”. In her poetic series, Tomiya plays with this dual sense. Her reflective photographic journey is undertaken with a subtle meditation on nature, and its seasonal transformation, alongside a representation of human life through women. Tomiya stages self-portraits and captures the daily lives of her mother, sisters and new-borns, to explore how her sense of home has altered with time.

I’ve lived my life asking myself
“What am I? What is this world?”
For a long time, I wandered without answers, and before I knew it I was older.
Had time flown by, or was it all a dream resembling a memory?
This story transcends time and meaning and self
by staring down the idea of “myself.”

Masako Tomiya (born in 1981 in Japan) began photography during her high school years, and then studied in Osaka and Tokyo in the 2000s. From that time on, she began taking photographs of the Tsugaru region, where she was born.
First edition
Design: Bureau Kayser
Essay: Masako Tomiya
Cover artwork: Satsuki Shibuya
80 pages
38 plates
22 x 27 cm
Hardcover, swiss binding
French / English / Japanese
Publication date: 30 June 2017
ISBN: 979-10-96383-02-3
Your Cart (0)
Your cart is empty
Your Cart (0)
Your cart is empty