Koji Murata
Photography
村田 光司
ABOUT ME
Koji Murata
- born in Shiga prefecture, Japan in 1958.
- started to use single-lens reflex camera for taking astronomical photographs at age 10.
- have started to take photographs by digital single-lens reflex camera, do image procession and color management officially since 2008.
- was fascinated by printing on Japanese paper and then started to study the gradation
peculiarity on every printing paper.
- became a member of Samurai Foto in 2013.
- "Japanese Beauty" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Tokyo, Japan (2013)
- SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Yamagata, Japan (2014)
- the finalist of the Photolucida Critical Mass in 2016
- "Emerging Visions of Japan" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Yokohama, Japan (2017)
- "Making a beautiful bridge" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Yokohama, Japan (2018)
- the finalist of the Photolucida Critical Mass in 2019
- "Endless Discovery" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Tokyo, Japan (2020)
- "The Power of Photography" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Tokyo, Japan (2021)
- the finalist of the Photolucida Critical Mass in 2022
- "The Defense of Peace" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Tokyo, Japan (2022)
- "SEEING SPIRIT" SAMURAI FOTO exhibition in Tokyo, Japan (2023)
English / 日本語
STATEMENT
Excessive human activities have destroyed nature. And I feel sad and painful for it. In Japan we have survived through a lot of natural disasters in a long history. We are in awe of nature and we know the philosophy to live with nature. This is what we learned from these painful experiences. While in nature, we are healed and gain more energy. The wisdom that we learned from the history of natural disasters will help us to overcome human crisis. I’d like to cause a stir among people around the world to raise concerns over the issue of coexisting with nature through my artworks.
MY EXPRESSION
Since childhood, I have been fascinated by Japanese paintings and woodblock printings. I wanted to express the artistic aspects and I chose photography as the way to express them 10 years ago. Since then I have been creating artworks. Unlike general art photography, I try to fuse Japanese paintings and woodblock printings with my photographic creations. In my artworks, I outlined the objects like Ukiyo-e, and that gave a strong impression and a positive effect, which attracted me so much. I don’t take photographs with realism but I’m pursuing a new possibility of art expression.