The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography has actively developed exhibitions of contemporary photography under its charter commitment to serve as “a center for recognizing artists with potential, supporting their creative spirits and developing new creative potential.” The many exhibitions of contemporary photography it has held have demonstrated the Museum’s commitment to this basic museum function.
Last year we began a new series of exhibitions on contemporary Japanese photography, group exhibitions featuring the works of Japan’s most active and innovative photographers. This second exhibition in the series has as its theme “Happiness” and features works that display the inner worlds of Toshihiro Komatsu, Mika Ninagawa, and Midori Mitamura. The careers of these photographers span the full spectrum of art, fashion, and performance, both overseas and in Japan. Their photographs interpret happiness through many different styles of visual expression. Their works embody a wealth of fresh imagination; spaces shaped by their unique personal philosophies and colored by their individual tastes in a manner that appeals to all the five senses. Visitors will, I believe, take away their own personal images of happiness after experiencing this exhibition, and I wish we could see those images as well.

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Acid Bloom
Mika Ninagawa

(c) Mika Ninagawa

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Green on the Mountain
Midori Mitamura

(c)Midori Mitamura

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In place / Out of place
Toshihiro Komatsu 

(c) Toshihiro Komatsu