MIYASHITA Maki

From PHOTOGUIDE.JP

MIYASHITA Maki 宮下 マキ (1975- ) Kagoshima. Young woman photographer who gained attention with photos of women in underwear at home.

Education Graduated from Kyoto Junior College of Fine Arts, Film Dept.

Career Exhibited award-winning "Room and Underwear" photos at Guardian Garden, Ginza in 1998 and at Art Tower Mito's "Private Room II" exhibition in 1999.

While on the bullet train coming to Tokyo, she looked out the window and wondered how people lived in those buildings. Her curiosity compelled her to start photographing these young women in underwear in their rooms in Tokyo, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagoya.

She exhibited 80 women in 80 rooms for the Private Room II exhibition at Art Tower Mito held in spring 1999. She wanted to reveal the girl's taste in living style and underwear, both things which are normally kept out of view. (2000.12.15)

Sample photos http://www.assemblylanguage.com/images/Miyashita.html

http://makimiyashita.com/exhi/index.html#003

Exhibition review (by Monty DiPietro) http://www.assemblylanguage.com/reviews/Miyashita.html

Official site: http://makimiyashita.com

Rooms and Underwear - 部屋と下着

Published: June 20, 2000

Publisher: Shogakukan

ISBN: 4096813117

Price in Japan: ¥1,995

Qualities: Hard cover, color photos, A5, 160 pp. Language: Japanese

Collection of 70 girls in their favorite underwear at home.

In 1997 when the photographer was riding the bullet train into Tokyo, she looked at all those apartment buildings and wondered about the people who lived in them. This Earth-shattering curiosity motivated her to start taking pictures of young women posed in their underwear in their living quarters.

Her objective was to reveal the private side of these women by showing their rooms and underwear. She believed that their private side was full of ideas and originality, and she wanted to open the door to their home and peel off their outer clothing.

The result is a series of young women wearing a variety of underwear in a variety of rooms showing a variety of furniture, clutter, and interior decoration. And guess what? She won a major photo award for this work. Not only that, the photos were exhibited in a major art museum (Mito Art Tower) in 1999. And to top it off, she got a major publisher to publish this book. Young women in underwear is now in the realm of fine art. OK, laugh if you want.

She photographed the women in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima. This compact book shows 70 of the women she photographed. For us men, seeing a woman in underwear is always interesting. But this book makes it more intriguing because these are real women in underwear they actually own. They are not lingerie models in a fashion magazine. This is for real.

The book provides a brief biography of each woman, but the women are not identified by name, only by their initials. There's the birthdate, blood type, occupation, type of living quarters, city, and the monthly rent. There are also comments by the girl about her room and choice of underwear. Read comments (in Japanese only) like, "I prefer sweet-looking underwear rather than sexy underwear," "Black underwear is for an aggressive mood, and white is for a protective mood," and "When I wear blue jeans, I don't wear underwear."

There's one girl (on page 124) who really looks like Yurie Nagashima (another young female photographer), but her initials do not match. The photographer did not intend the photographs to be erotic, but to us men, looking at women in underwear is often erotic. So if you are a male, the pictures may turn you on. (Reviewed by Philbert Ono)

Web site: http://makimiyashita.com/