Yukari Chikura

Yukari Chikura was born in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Music University, she became music composer, computer programmer, designer and photographer. As a young photographer Chikura has already won many prizes, among others the Photolucida Critical Mass Top50 Winner in 2016 and 2015, the International Photography Award and the Sony World Photography Awards. She has held solo exhibitions in Japan, and group exhibitions in museums and galleries worldwide. Her work is collected by the Griffin Photography Museum in US, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and K*MoPA (the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts). Chikura is the winner of STEIDL BOOK AWARD 2016 and her work from her series 'ZAIDO' will be published by STEIDL. The works exhibited at IBASHO are from Chikura’s series ‘Fluorite Fantasia’, a very personal body of work dealing with the death of her father. Chikhura has stated: ‘Fluorite is a beautiful mineral that catches the light of our star and radiates it back to the darkness of night. My stone was a memento from my father; glowing and enigmatic. His death was too sudden. Before we realised it, the cancer attacked from all directions and took him. All I wanted was to sit down with him and talk about his experiences, ask him about the secrets he carried with him. But before I could gather my will to do so, he was struck mute, then pulled into mystery. Why did I have to wait? Why did I not put all my effort into living this precious time with him? After his death, I walked with tears behind my eyes and bitterness under my heart. In the heart of this cold, beautiful, blue stone, innumerable stars glittered and drifted. In a dream I wandered among them, searching. When I woke up, unexpectedly I found myself in the house where he had been a child. It was full of smells and sounds and familiar but cryptic and mystical objects. His presence felt so strong that I thought his voice might come from the next room. Though I am unsure why, I believed, deep inside myself, that I could meet my father there. Day after day, wandering around in the mystical scenery, I looked for him.’