Yoshihiko Ueda

Photographer/Professor of Department of Graphic Design, Tama Art University.

Born in 1957 in Hyogo Prefecture. Among his many awards are the Photographic Society of Japan Lifetime Achievement Award, the Tokyo Art Directors Club Grand Prize, and the New York Art Directors Club Photography Award. In 2011 he launched Gallery 916.

His most noted series/monographs include Quinault, a meditation on the eponymous sacred Native American rainforest; Amagatsu, a backstage study of Sankai Juku dancer-choreographer Ushio Amagatsu; at Home, intimate snapshots of the artist’s family; Materia, capturing primeval sources of life; and A Life with Camera, a collection of works from his massive oeuvre spanning over 30 years.

Recently published are FOREST: Impressions and Memories 1989-2017, capturing the three primeval forests of Quinault, Yakushima, and Nara Kasuga Taisha shrine, and 68TH STREET, a memory of light and shadow falling on a single sheet of white paper.

In 2021, he wrote, directed, and filmed the movie Garden of Camellias, the story of a woman who loses her husband and is confronted with the inheritance tax on her home, depicted through the changes of the seasons of a traditional Japanese house and its garden.

Solo Exhibitions

2025 “Beside Time: Memories in Light” OFS GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan

“FLOWERS” Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

“Yoshihiko Ueda: From the Hip” The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan

“Fruit” “Tibetan honey” GR SPACE TOKYO, Tokyo, Japan

2023 “Dream Always” Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

“Dreams Always” galley ON THE HILL, Tokyo, Japan

“PORTRAIT” Gallery SATSU, Tokyo, Japan

2022 “Māter” Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

2019 “Illuminating Landscapes”National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan

EPSON SQUARE Marunouchi epSITE Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2018 “The Seasonal Beauty of Japanese Cuisine” ROPPONGI HILLS A/D GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan

“Magical Rainforests” 1839 Contemporary Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

“68th Street: Memories of Light” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“FOREST: Impressions and Memories, 1989-2017” Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography Nara City, Nara

“Forest: Impressions and Memories, 1989-2017” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

2017 “Apple Tree” Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

“Memories of Journeys” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“Forest Memories” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

2014 “A Life with Camera” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“M.Ganges」Gallery 916” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“Hakuho” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“M.Venus” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“M.Sea” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

2013 “Materia M.River M.Sea” Gallery TABIRA, Yakushima, Kagoshima

“M.River” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

2012 “Birds & Bones” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

“JOMONESE” National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo

“Materia” Gallery 916, Tokyo, Japan

2011 “SHIZUMARU” Tokyo Art Club, Japan

“Cabinet de Curiositѐs” Musée Gadagne, Lyon, France

“SHIZUMARU” G/P gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“SHIZUMARU” Hosomi Museum, Kyoto, Japan

“KAZAN NO SHIMA” RING CUBE｜Ricoh Japan, Tokyo

“Chamber of Curiosities” Art Museum, National Taiwan University of Arts, New Taipei

2010 “YUME / Myanmar” G/P Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“QUINAULT” TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

“QUINAULT” Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, UK

2009 “QUINAULT” G/P Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2008 “BONE and STONEWARES” G/P Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“at Home” Leica Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2007 “Forever Rouge” HOUSE OF SHISEIDO, Tokyo, Japan

2006 “CHAMBER of CURIOSITIES” The University Museum, The University of Tokyo,Japan

“at Home2006” Epson Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“Standing Full Nude” Gallery Sho Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

2004 “Recent Works 2002-2004” Gallery Sho Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

2003 “Photographs” Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan

2001 “YOSHIHIKO UEDA WORKS 1984-2001” Visual Arts Gallery, Osaka

2000 “Blue Blue 1991/2000” Epson Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1995 “Amagatsu” Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan

1993 “Quinault” Parco Gallery Gallery (Tokyo and Nagoya), Japan

1985 “Portraits in Fashion” Gallery 291, Atlanta, GA

“Recent Works” STUDIO EBIS, Tokyo, Japan

Group Exhibitions

2026 “Unknown Beings” Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

2020 “TOKYO CURIOSITY 2020 SHIBUYA” Bunkamura The Museum, Tokyo, Japan

“Touch of Summer” Loro Piana Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

2014 “Japan Professional Photographers Society Award Exhibition” FUJIFILM PHOTO SALON, Tokyo, Japan

“DEARDORFF” Gallery bauhaus, Tokyo, Japan

2013 “Chie Morimoto And‘The Human Voice’”spiral garden, Tokyo, Japan

“Gelatin Silver Session 2013-Save The Film” AXIS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“Reverdecer,Paisaje 1969-2013” Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico

“L'art de Rosanjin -Génie de la cuisine Japonaise - (1883-1959)” Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, France

“Yoshihiko Ueda X Satoshi Tsumabuki” Canon Gallery, GINZA, Tokyo

[traveled to UMEDA, Osaka/ SENDAI, Miyagi/ NAGOYA, Aichi/ SAPPORO, Hokkaido/ FUKUOKA, Japan]

2012 “Gelatin Silver Session 2012 - Save the Film -” AXIS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2011 “Gelatin Silver Session”AXIS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“Gelatin Silver Session”AXIS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2010 “Gelatin Silver Session 2010 - Save the Film -” AXIS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2009 “PARCO 40th Anniversary more trees ‘TOUCH WOOD’” Parco Factory ,Tokyo

2007 “Gelatin Silver Session 2007” AXIS Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

“200 Professional Photographers Exhibition” FUJIFILM Photo Salon , Tokyo, Japan

2006 “epSITE retrospective 1998-2006 category3” Epson Imaging Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1999 “Portrait of Lives” Epson Imaging Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1998 “The Futurism of Photography” Epson Imaging Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1996 “New Japanese Photography 1990's : The Resonance of Unconsciousness” Yokohama Civic Art Gallery, Kanagawa

1995 “Modern History of Japanese Photography” Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

“Le mois de la photo à Montréal” Montreal, Canada

1993 “Living with AIDS & HIV” Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan

“Pictures of Peace” Nabio Museum, Osaka

1991 “Bearer of Images” Kodak Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1990 “La photographie publicitaire Japonaise” Grande Arche de la Defense, Paris, France

Public Collections

2013 Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

2011 Permanent Public Art Collection of New Mexico Arts, Santa Fe

2010 Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

2010 Hermes International, Paris, France

2008 Stichting Art & Theatre, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Awards

2018 ADC Award, Tokyo/ Poster SUNTORY “BOSS”

2014 Photographic Society of Japan Awards/ Lifetime Achievement Award

2012 ADC Award, Tokyo/ Poster·Book & Editorial Design “JOMONESE”

2009 ADC Award, Tokyo/ Poster·News Ad “Central Japan Railway Company Smooth”

2008 ADC Award, Tokyo/ Poster·News Ad “Central Japan Railway Company Smooth”

2007 ADC Award, Tokyo/ TVCF·Poster·News Ad “Shiseido corporate advertising”

ACC “The Best Director of Photography" Award, Japan/ TVCF "Shiseido corporate advertising”

ACC “The Best Director of Photography" Award, Japan/ TVCF “Iemon”

2005 ACC Silver Award, Japan/ TVCF “fino”

ACC Gold Award, Japan/ TVCF “Iemon”

ADC Grand Prize, Tokyo/ TVCF “Iemon”

2000 ACC Award, Japan/ TVCF “Oolong-Cha”

ADC Award, Tokyo/ Magazine Ad “NIKE Women Campaign”

1999 ASAHI Advertisement Award/ Magazine Ad “NIKE Women Campaign”

1998 ASAHI Advertisement Award/ News Ad “Takarajima”

1996 ADC Award, New York/ Publication “Yoshihiko Ueda – AMAGATSU”

1995 ADC Award,Tokyo/ Publication “Yoshihiko Ueda – AMAGATSU”

24th FUJI•SANKEI Advertisement Award, Grand Prize/ TVCF·Poster “Oolong-Cha”

ADC Award, Tokyo/ TVCF･Poster “Oolong-Cha”

1994 ADC Award, Tokyo/ TVCF･Poster “PARCO Grand Bazaar”

1993 Cannes Graphic Award, Silver/ Poster “Hasekou – Casals Hall”

1992 ADC Award, Tokyo/ Poster “The Choice Exhibition”

1991 Minister of Int' l Trade and Industry Award/ Calender

ASAHI Advertisement Award/ News Ad “Remy Martin QSS”

1989 18th FUJI•SANKEI Advertisement Grand Prize/ Poster “Suntory R”

ADC Award, New York/ Poster “ANA'S CHINA”

ADC Award, Tokyo/ TVCF “Mother Earth”

1987 ADC Award, New York/ Poster “La Brea”