Yoneda Tomoko completed an MFA in photography at the Royal College of Art in London in 1991, and has since continued to base herself in London. Exploring the invisible memories and histories related to certain places and objects, her photographic practice involves extensive research and travel to locations around world, and incorporates the journalist perspective of the search for historical truth. In her key series “Scene” (2000-), Yoneda visits sites of historical memory (battlefields, areas affected by earthquakes, locations of political incidents, etc.) and photographs what those places look like today. Her work stirs our imagination precisely because it does not directly depict war and power, subjects we would ordinarily expect a photograph to show. Moreover, it reminds us that the figures and objects we see can possess meanings that are not visible. Yoneda’s work has appeared at such international exhibitions as the 2007 Venice Biennale and the 2018 Shanghai Biennale.

“Between Visible and Invisible” (1998-) is one of Yoneda’s major series. The black and white photographs feature the actual eyeglasses worn by historically influential modern intellectuals like Sigmund Freud and Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, paired with texts, photographs, musical scores, or other things that have some connection to them. “I try to present a glimpse of their historical background and lives, while trying to express the indomitable spirit they fought for what they believed,” Yoneda has said.

* Tomoko Yoneda: An End Is a Beginning, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, 2008), 97.