Kimiko Yoshida
Born in 1963 in Tokyo, Japan
Lives and works in Paris, Venice, and Tokyo
Kimiko Yoshida studied literature at Chuo University in Tokyo, then photography at the Tokyo College of Photography, the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles, and Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains.

From her very first exhibition, Kimiko Yoshida established a program of using herself as a model and creating self-portraits as part of a process of research, quest, and resistance. She set up her own devices: front-facing framing, close-ups or bust shots, square format, from small to monumental, soft and indirect lighting, without filters or gelatin, staging and background color identical to that which she adopted on her face. Her photographs are the result of a slow process and are never edited or retouched: “The same figure is repeated but is not identical to itself: the more it is the same, the more it changes... These self-portraits should be seen as timeless and ‘abstract' images, free of any anecdote, story, or narrative.” She works in series, following Les Mariées célibataires (The Single Brides) with Les Peintures (The Paintings), inspired by the portraits of the great masters of painting, and Rorschach Yoshida, covering her self-portraits with Rorschach-like shapes to create baroque, poetic, and marvelous representations, overflowing with color.

She received the International Photography Award in 2005. She exhibits worldwide and her works are included in the permanent collections of major museums. In 2026, the Vermont Foundation in Venice will dedicate a major exhibition to her. 

Kimiko Yoshida has said: “Art is a delicate operation of transposition, a relentless struggle against the status quo, against voluntary servitude, gender stereotypes, and the determinism of heredity.”