Tomoko Nagakawa is a Japanese-born photographic artist whose practice is rooted in analogue photography and hand-applied printing techniques.
Her work is defined by a slow, tactile process in which each image is carefully constructed through the deliberate choice of surfaces, emulsions, and manual gestures. The act of making is central, with time, touch, and attentiveness shaping both form and meaning.
Tomoko describes her approach as “letter writing,” a meditative method that treats each work as a quiet communication. Through this breath-led process, her photographs become refined, minimalist objects that hold a strong sense of presence and material integrity.
Drawing on traditional photographic craftsmanship, Tomoko’s practice emphasizes process as experience. Her works invite viewers to engage with subtle shifts in tone, texture, and light, offering a contemplative encounter grounded in the physical realities of photographic making.
"Tomoko Nagakawa's approach cannot be dissociated from the use of so-called 'traditional' techniques, insofar as she asserts the use of analogue photography - as opposed to digital - and printing on specific papers. The attention paid to the materiality of the process does not stop there, since it encompasses what she calls a physical relationship with photography (she herself coats the sensitive emulsion on the paper), and a production process that resembles a craft: each photograph is the result of a slow and unique process. The time devoted to each image is the time she deems necessary for the technical development of the work, but also for its maturation in terms of meaning and its ability to reach a viewer likened to the recipient of written correspondence. This is a far cry from the practice that is sometimes referred to as the 'decisive moment', which makes the fleetingness of the moment of the shot a privileged pathway to what emerges as essential at the point of encounter between the photographer and the world. In the latter case, the photographer's body is also present in the act of creation, but focused on the act of taking the photograph. Tomoko Nagakawa's images take a long time to develop, and are akin to writing, but this does not mean that the result is narrative. The images produced, and the way they are arranged in series, do not produce a narrative, but open up a wide range of sensations and interpretations. It is a question of remembering the disappeared, but in a register that moves away from portraiture towards barely legible, almost subliminal images. In this way, the absence to which the photograph bears witness is no longer that of a particular person, but that of everything we miss, infinitely and without being able to name it."
Written by Christian Maccotta
- 2021 InCadaques photo festival
- 2021 Zeropixel Festival.
- 2021 Winner of the Scabar Award
- 2022 Revela'T. Barcelona,Spain
- 2022 Solo show at Fotografia Zeropixel 2022,Trieste
- 2023 Solo at Monfalconese Cultural Consortium, Ronchi,Italy
- 2023 Salon der Photographie, Kunstverein, Paderborn,Germany
-2024 Les Boutographies, official selection, Montpellier, France
-2025 Residency. Return to Ithaca. Ithaca,Greece
-2026 London Art Fair with Open Doors Gallery
-2026 Photo London with Open Doors Gallery
