ABOUT
Yukimi Akiba lives in Japan, working with mixed media and embroidery as her main medium. She created a series of Polaroid self-portraits, Creative 'Self' Destruction, from 2019-2021. Her work played an important role as a way to reconstruct what she lost in her life due to illness and trauma, which led to her current style that allows her to relate herself to others and reality.
Timeless Knot is the first project after Yukimi stepped away from self-portraits using Polaroids. Focusing on unknown women (in vintage postcards) who lived and died in the past, and using countless French Knot stitches that looks like blooming colorful threads. she takes time to “talk” with all the creatures in the vintage photographs, and carefully stitch and revive them, stitch by stitch, with a great amount of respect towards the portrait sitter, the original print and us as viewers of the work.
Since spring 2019 she has thrown herself into her creative/emotional world but isolated herself from people and the real world instead.
THE POLAROID WORK
Yukimi created a series of Polaroid self-portraits from 2019 to 2021. Using embroidery, gold leaf, colors, lifts, she destroyed herself and reimagined her own image that called Creative ‘Self’ Destruction.
All original works are individually numbered and named but her message is veiled as a secret revenge against the society she hates, in the same way as her body in the work. Up to today the collection counts over 120 unique self-portraits.
PART1 N°1-50 / Date : Apr- Jun 2019/ Type : Simple
PATR2 N°50-100 / Date : Jun- Oct 2019/ Type : Simple
PART3 N°101- 141 / Date : Oct 2019 - Feb 2021/ Type : Complex
For Yukimi, art played an important role as therapy for illness, a way of not physically harming herself or others, a way of rebuilding what she had lost in her life by trauma, and now it helps relate her and the realities.
Awards
- LensCulture Exposure Awards 2020 Finalist - Feb 2020
EXHIBITION
- A Trip Through Time – between lived tradition and cliché (Collaborative) by Salzkammergut 2024 - May 2024 - / Sep 2024 - / Feb 2025 -
- Timeless Knot by The Griffin Museum (Online) - Mar 2 - Apr 16 2023
- Timeless Knot by The Griffin Museum (Online) - Mar 2 - Apr 16 2023
Magazine Publication
- Flow Magazine 5 by Flow Magazine (Collaborative) - Jun 2023
- PAPERBAG Issue No.14 by Paperbag Journal (Collaborative) - Dec 2022
- Analog Forever Magazine Issue 2 by Analog Forever (Collaborative) - Aug 2020
- UNCERTAIN MAGAZINE ISSUE 5 (ONLINE) by UNCERTAIN MAGAZINE (Collaborative) - Jun 2019
Online Features
- Timeless Knot by Lenscratch - Dec 2022
- Exposure Awards 2020 Winners & Finalist by LensCulture - Feb 2020
- Top 40 Analog Photographs of 2019 by Analog Forever - Dec 2019
- Enigma by MAUER Mag - Aug 2019
- My Secret Revenge by UNCERTAIN MAGAZINE - Jun 2019
Want To Feature Yukimi's Work?
Want to feature her work or have her impart some words? Use the contact form to get in touch with Yukimi Akiba. Also, interested curators and buyers can direct your emails to yukimi1244@gmail.com
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