Biography

Yasutaka Seki is a photographer based in Japan.
Born in 1973 in Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, he currently lives and works there.
He develops long-term photographic projects exploring human migration, the memory of place, and the boundaries between the individual and society.

Artist Statement

I believe that photography is not merely a means of recording the reality before us, but also a way of engaging with the memories that remain beneath its surface and with emotions that have not yet found words.

My work has focused on the relationship between people and place, on what is being lost and what is being passed on, and on our shifting sense of belonging amid change.

The earthquake that struck my hometown of Kumamoto made me realize that even the ordinary routines of everyday life will one day come to an end. As I confronted the ageing of people close to me and the transformation of the land, I began to understand loss not simply as an ending, but also as a beginning—one in which those who remain carry memories forward and rebuild their relationship with the world.

In recent years, I have been tracing the footsteps of relatives who migrated from Japan to Bolivia after the Second World War. Through this work, I explore how the memories and cultures of those who left their homeland change across generations and are inherited as new forms of identity.

Using fragments found in landscapes, portraits, and archives as points of departure, I examine the connections between individual memory and the histories and societies that lie behind it. For me, photography is not simply a means of preserving the past. It is a form of expression that connects what has been lost with the present, allowing me to continue questioning where we come from, where we are going, and to what we belong.

CV

2026　GFX Challenge Grant Program 2025 — Global Grant Award

2026　Group photography exhibition “origin”
　　　Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka

2026　Group photography exhibition “silent perspectives”
　　　NEUTRAL, Kyoto

2025　Solo exhibition “Ashita Mu ni Kaeru” (Vanishing Tomorrow)
　　　NEUTRAL, Kyoto

2025　Group exhibition “Chotto, Kawareru Hi. 2025”
　　　Nine Gallery, Tokyo

2024　Group exhibition “Transcendence / Chōetsu”
　　　Roppongi Stripe’s Space, Tokyo

2024　Group exhibition “Chotto, Kawareru Hi.”
　　　Nine Gallery, Tokyo