Yoko Ikeda

Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture

2016

Throughout her career, photographer Yoko Ikeda has been finding poetry in the prosaic, and mystery in the mundane. Her photographs serve to form an imaginary world, loosely based on commonplace subjects. Working mostly in Japan, but also in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States and elsewhere, she has created images both ominous and inviting, uncanny in their ability to coax the unexpected from the known. Ikeda was born in Kanazawa City, and now lives and works in Tokyo. Her work has been exhibited in many one-person and group shows throughout Japan, as well as in Belgium and various venues in the United States. In 2013, she was the recipient of the prestigious Philadelphia Museum of Art Purchase Award, and her work is included in their collection. In 2016, Nazraeli Press published her first monograph, entitled "Monkey Puzzle," and Ikeda was also awarded the New Photographer Award at the 2016 Higashikawa Awards. In 2018 she was the first recipient of the ALPA AWARD, presented at Photo Basel. Her work will soon be featured in an on-line exhibition at the Kawasaki City Museum.