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” in 2019-2021, isolating herself from the world. The process played an important role as a therapy for illness, as a way of not physically harming herself or others, and as a way of rebuilding what she had lost in her life due to trauma.
The “Timeless Knots” project, which she began in 2021 using found vintage photographs, is her attempt to reconstruct a new relationship with others and the world, as well as a study to visualize and recognize the empathy and kindness born from this process. The timeless dialogue between the sitter, the photographer, all the creatures in the image, and herself is carefully and emotionally stitched, stitch by stitch, with respect, and transformed into contemporary art form. Her poetic manner with thread brings new narratives and interpretations to forgotten objects, and her original works are held in private collections worldwide.
EXHIBITION
2025
“ZEITREISE / TIME TRAVEL - photography between lived tradition and modernity”, as part of European Capital of Culture 2024, Curated by Yvonne Oswald, History Museum - Universalmuseums Joanneum in Graz, Austria / Jan 30 –May 18 2025
2024
“ZEITREISE / TIME TRAVEL - photography between lived tradition and modernity”, as part of European Capital of Culture 2024, Curated by Yvonne Oswald, Mozart Residence in Salzburg, Austria
“ZEITREISE / TIME TRAVEL - photography between lived tradition and modernity”, as part of European Capital of Culture 2024, Curated by Yvonne Oswald, Narzissendorf Zloam in Grundlsee, Austria
2023
Timeless Knot , The Griffin Museum of Photography (Online), MA USA
1838 Awards Photographer of the Year 2024 Bronze (Conceptual/Non-professional), Dec 2024
LensCulture Exposure Awards 2020 Finalist, Feb 2020
Press/publication
Time Travel catalogue published by International Mozarteum Foundation, May 2024
Flow Magazine 5 (Printed issue), Jun 2023
Lenscratch interview by Aline Smithson : Timeless Knot, Dec 2022
Paperbag Journal : PAPERBAG Issue No.14, Dec 2022
Better Photography magazine (Printed issue) interview by Nilofer Khan, "The Tale of a Grieving Heart",
Apr 2022 *Read article*
Apr 2022 *Read article*
Lenscratch interview by Galina Kurlat : "The Body as Unraveled", Nov 2021
The Jealous Curator : Art Delivery, Nov 2021
kwerfeldein interview by Katja Kemnitz : CREATIVE 'SELF' DESTRUCTION, Mar 2020
LensCulture : Exposure Awards 2020 Winners & Finalist, Feb 2020
Analog Forever Magazine Issue 2 (Printed issue) by Niniane Kelley, Aug 2020
UNCERTAIN MAGAZINE ISSUE 5 (ONLINE), Jun 2019
Analog Forever : Top 40 Analog Photographs of 2019, Dec 2019
MAUER Mag : Enigma, Aug 2019
UNCERTAIN MAGAZINE : My Secret Revenge, Jun 2019
