MIKA HORIE
Mika Horie was born in Kyoto, Japan in 1984. Her interest in
photography and Japanese paper-making began during her
Bachelor studies at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. After
graduating she worked as a freelance photographer and in 2008
she spent one year in the United Kingdom for a MA European
Arts Practice (Fine Art) at Kingston University in London. In 2013
she established her own studio space in Kaga-city and after an
apprenticeship with a traditional papermaker in Shiga, she started
to pursue the primitive passions and aesthetic values of Japanese
paper and cyanotype (blue) photography.
Horie’s art works are fully handmade. The paper is made by her
from local, organic and high quality raw materials. Her photographic
process is nearly as laborious as the paper making. She
hauls a vintage 8 by 10 inch camera into the hills where she harvests
the gampi for her paper, capturing mountainscapes, foliage,
and nearly-forgotten villages. She treats her paper with iron salts,
places the oversize negatives directly on top, and allows the sun
to expose them to shades of cyan and deep indigo.
Mika Horie has exhibited her work several times within Japan, Belgium,
The Netherlands and in the United Kingdom.
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Exhibitions (selection)
2021
• "Kiku’", solo show, BILDHALLE, Amsterdam (NL)
• Photo London, group show, BILDHALLE, London (UK)
• "Mizu", group show, Ibasho gallery (BE)
• "Blues", group show, Ingrid Deuss Gallery (BE)
2020
• Paper Position Berlin, group show, BILDHALLE, Berlin (DE)
• "Hatsuyuki", group show, Ibasho gallery (BE)
• Haute Photographie Rotterdam, group show (NL)
• "Wabi Sabi", group show, Ibasho gallery (BE)
• Art Busan, group show (SK)
2019
• "Neko Project", group show, Ibasho gallery (BE)
• "Life is a Circle", solo show, KG+Kyotographie (JP)
2018
• "Japanism", JCAT, group show, One Art Space, New York (USA)
• Photo London, group show, London (GB)
• "Waterfront II", solo show, KG+Kyotographie (JP)
2017
• "Female Force from Japan", group show, Ibasho gallery (BE)
• "Kodamasuru", solo show, gallery Misyo, Ishikawa (JP)