Miho Kajioka

Miho Kajioka (born 21 February 1973) is a Japanese photographer based in Kyoto. She is known for minimalist black-and-white photography influenced by Japanese aesthetics and concepts of time, memory, and impermanence. In 2019 she received the Prix Nadar for her photobook So it goes.

Early life and education Kajioka was born in Okayama, Japan, in 1973. She moved to the United States in 1992 to study painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, later shifting her focus to photography. She continued her studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

After graduating, Kajioka returned to Japan and worked in Tokyo producing news and documentary programs for Brazilian television. Covering events such as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster significantly influenced her artistic outlook, prompting her return to photographic practice as a means of reflecting on fragility, continuity, and daily life.

Her practice often begins with intuitive observations of everyday fragments—such as shadows, birds, or children—followed by a process of reduction in the darkroom. She frequently produces silver gelatin prints and stains them with tea, a traditional Japanese technique that softens the surface and introduces organic tonal variation. So it goes. Paris: Them / Antwerp: Ibasho, 2019. Edition of 540 copies. Second edition. So It Goes, So It Goes. Paris: Them / Ibasho, 2020. . Smaller, with a different cover, and new images. Third edition. So it goes, so it goes, so it goes. Paris: Them / Antwerp: Ibasho, 2023. With a different cover and additional images. Flowers Bloom, Butterflies Come. France: Iikki, 2021. Edition of 750 copies. And, do you still hear the peacocks?. Paris: Them / Antwerp: Ibasho, 2022.

Awards 2019 – Prix Nadar for So it goes