Yoshinori Mizutani (Japan, 1987) is a leading figure among the new generation of Japanese contemporary photographers. A graduate of the Tokyo College of Photography, Mizutani quickly gained international acclaim for a visual language that transforms urban reality into near-abstract landscapes, filled with vibrant and poetic tension.
His work is characterized by a masterful use of color and flash, techniques he employs to isolate natural subjects — such as the iconic green parakeets in Tokyo Parrots or the swarms in Yusurika — extracting them from metropolitan chaos to place them within a graphic and pictorial dimension. His lens does more than document; it selects details, textures, and visual rhythms, creating a bridge between documentary photography and modernist abstraction.
Mizutani has received prestigious accolades, including the 2014 FOAM Talent Call and the LensCulture Emerging Talent Award. His series have been exhibited in major international institutions and festivals, solidifying his role as a refined interpreter of nature enduring and adapting at the edges of modern civilization.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Tokyo Whispers, Christophe Guye Galerie, Switzerland
2022 Voices of flowers, Chayamachi Applause, Osaka, Japan
2021 L’oiseau bleu, United Nations Genève, Genève
2020 Birds, Christophe Guye Galerie, Switzerland
2018 HDR_nature, IMA gallery, Tokyo
2018 SAKURA / MOONLIGHT, IMA gallery, Tokyo
2017 Couleurs Tokyoïtes, Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, Paris
2016 Yoshinori Mizutani, mc2gallery, Milano, Italy
2016 HANON, IMA CONCEPT STORE , Tokyo
2016 Rain, webber gallery, London
2016 COLORS – YUSURIKA, aura gallery, Beijing
2016 SAKURA, ibasho gallery, Antwerp
2016 Yoshinori Mizutani 2010-14, Tokyo Art Coordination, Tokyo
2016 TOKYO PARROTS | COLORS | Paris, ELTTOB TEP ISSEY MIYAKE / GINZA, Tokyo
2015 Tokyo Parrots–Yusurika–Moonlight, Galerie Au Premier, Zurich, Switzerland
2015 YUSURIKA, IMA Gallery , Tokyo
2015 TOKYO PARROTS, aura gallery, Beijing
2015 TOKYO PARROTS / YUSURIKA, Graanmarkt 13, Antwerp
2015 COLORS / TOKYO PARROTS , IMA Gallery , Tokyo
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Transcender le banal , Occurrence, Montréal
2025 Alt+1000 , Switzerland
2024 À vol d’oiseau, L’Imagerie, France
2024 The Pet show, Fotografiska Museum Shanghai, Shanghai / China
2024 The 15th Rencontres de la photographie en Gaspésie, Gaspésie / Canada
2023 Breda Photo Festival, Netherlands
2023 Prix Pictet Fire & Water Exhibition, TOP museum, Tokyo
2022 Des oiseaux, Hangar Photo Art Center, Brussels, Belgium
2022 Photoville festival 2022, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY
2022 Des oiseaux, Toulouse
2022 Capture photography Festival, Canada
2021 T3 PHOTO FESTIVAL TOKYO, Tokyo
2021 ６STORIES, Higashikawa Bunka gallery, Higashikawa, Hokkaido
2021 Beginnings, Forever, Museum of Photographic Arts(MOPA), San Diego
2020 PEP (Paris Expériences Photos), Paris
2019 Asama International Photo Festival, Miyota, Nagano, Japan
2019 The Photaumnales festival, France
2019 NEKO project, IBASHO gallery, Antwerp
2018 Kachō-ga. The Poetry of Japanese Nature, Japan Museum SieboldHuis, Netherlands
2018 NONIO ART WAVE, ZeroBase Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Seoul Photo Festival, Seoul
2018 Provoke 2.0, Festiwal Fotografii Plener, Poland
2018 Photo Phnom Penh Festival, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2018 Asama International Photo Festival, Miyota, Nagano, Japan
2018 GETXOPHOTO Festival, Getxo, Basque
2018 TSUKA 塚, CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY (CCP), Australia
2018 Weather, D museum, Seoul
2017 Urban Wildlife, Stadthaus Ulm, Ulm, Germany
2017 FESTIVAL FOTOGRAFICO EUROPEO, Milano
2017 the amana collection「new photography」, IMA gallery, Tokyo
2016 Tennoz Canal Autumn Festival, Tennoz Isle, Tokyo
2016 Urban Green, More Than A Gallery, Paris
2016 Seoul Lunar Photo Festival 2016, Seoul
2016 Fake Romanticism, The Grand Summit, Beijing
2016 Tennoz Canal Summer Festival, Tennoz Isle, Tokyo
2016 ASYAAF & Hidden Artists Festival 2016, DDP, Seoul, South Korea
2016 TRES + TRES FOTOGRAFIA, Embajada de Espana, Tokyo
2016 IMA gallery collection, IMA CONCEPT STORE, Tokyo
2016 Festival Photo La Gacilly, La Gacilly, France
2016 Map of Daily Life, TAFA(Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Gallery), Tianjin, China
2016 Near Future Art / DOORS, Istan Shinjuku 7F, Tokyo
2015 Map of Daily Life, 7th Lishui International Photography Festival, Lishui , China
2015 TOKYO PARROTS, Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography 2015, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
2015 Another Room, IMA CONCEPT STORE (IMA gallery), Tokyo
2015 SUMMER EXHIBITION 2015, ibasho gallery, antwerp
2015 SHASHIN! Japanese Photography Then/Now, Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery, Hong Kong
2015 Young Portfolio 2014, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (KMoPA) , Japan
2015 NEW JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY ,DOOMED GALLERY2 , London
2015 LUMIX MEETS BY JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS #2 , IMA CONCEPT STORE , Tokyo
2014 LUMIX MEETS BY JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS #2 , Yellowkorner Gallery Paris Pompidou , Paris
2014 Foam Magazine Talent 2014 exhibition,East Wing Gallery, Dubai
2014 LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards 2014 exhibition, Galeria Valid Foto, Barcelona
2014 Foam Magazine Talent 2014 exhibition, Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam
2014 Foam Magazine Talent 2014 exhibition, Atelier Neerlandais, Paris
2014 TOKYO2020, Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
2014 Light and moment vol.17-spirited photographers- , Recto Verso Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2013 TOKYO 2020 By Japanese Photographers 9, 1 Rue Richelieu, Paris / Hillside Forum, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Those Born From Room, Count Down Gallery Momozonogaro, Tokyo, Japan
2010 THESE DAYS, Gallery Mestalla, Tokyo, Japan
AWARDS
2014 LensCulture Emerging Talents Top 50
2014 Foam Talent, Amsterdam
2014 Young Portfolio, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (KMoPA), Japan
2013 Tokyo Frontline Photo Award 2013 Jury Award (selecting judge : Taisuke Koyama), Tokyo
2013 Japan Photo Award 2013 Jury Award (selecting judge : Ivan Vartanian), Tokyo
2012 Awarded Tokyo Frontline Photo Award 2012, Tokyo
PHOTOBOOKS
2023 Tsutaya/Amsterdam, Boabooks, Genève, Switzerland
2021 SAKURA, the(M) éditions & IBASHO, Paris & Antwerp
2020 Tori to te, PHOTOPAPAER / Kasseler Fotografie Festival, Germany
2019 Des oiseaux / Éditions Xavier Barral, Paris
2018 HDR_nature, amana / IMA photobooks, Tokyo
2016 HANON, amana / IMA photobooks, Tokyo
2015 YUSURIKA, amana / IMA photobooks, Tokyo
2015 COLORS , amana / IMA photobooks, Tokyo
2014 Tokyo Parrots, amana / IMA photobooks, Tokyo
2014 Taxi Dirty Books, Boabooks, Genève, Switzerland
PUBLIC COLLECTION
Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (KMoPA), Yamanashi, Japan
amana collection, Tokyo
Collection de Heus-Zomer, Amsterdam
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
etc
