Mika Ninagawa, born in Tokyo in 1972, is one of the top female photographers of the day. She works with such leading fashion magazines as Vogue, Elle Japon, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Figaro Japon, Non-no, and Lumine. She has created advertising campaigns for major brands including Tsumori Chisato, Coca-Cola, Shu Uemura, SLY, BMW MINI and Issey Miyake as well as many others.
Among the prestigious photographic awards she has received are the Grand Prize of the 9th Shashin hitotsubo ten and the Superior Prize of the Canon 13th New Cosmos of Photography, as well as the 26th Kimura Ihei Photography Award in 1998 and the Ohara Museum of Art Prize in 2006.
In addition to her success as a still photographer, she has recently received international recognition as a film director. Her historical film set in the Edo period (1625-1868), Sakuran, debuted in the special section of the 57th Berlin Film Festival. The film is already in distribution in France (Kaze) and Britain (ICA Films).
She has been invited to participate in numerous personal and collective exhibitions in Japan and abroad. This year alone her work has been shown at an exhibition in Taiwan, at the Kennedy Center in Washington and her most recent personal at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery.
She also has dozens of extraordinary photography publications to her name, including: Princess, and Ninagawa Mika, Kodansha, 2004; Liquid Dreams e Acid Bloom, Editions Treville, 2003; Pink Rose Suite, Editions Treville, 2001; Like a Peach, Kodansha, 2002 and Sugar and Spice, Kawade shobo, 2000.

© Mika Ninagawa