Photographs by Tomohiro Muda: Aspects of Water

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

1956   Born in Nara Prefecture. 

1980   Graduated from Department of Education, Waseda University, Tokyo.

1982   Began a career as an independent photographer.

1988   Presented “The Land of Sherpa,” his first private exhibition, featuring photographs taken during a stay at a Sherpa village in the Himalayas.

Muda later traveled around the world capturing images of Japanese, Romanesque, and Byzantine art, as well as ancient centers of Buddhism including Yungang, Borobudur, Angkor, and Ajanta. With “Spaces for Prayer, Forms of Prayer” as a theme, he presented his photographs through exhibitions and publications. Muda’s many other fine-art photographic exhibitions, with a focus on light and presence, include “Rome: The Wall of Time,” “Face of Iron,” and “Portraits of Poli,” in which he depicted a medieval Italian mountain town.

PUBLISHED COLLECTIONS

1990   The Land of Sherpa, IPC

2000   Portraits of Poli, Single Cut

2002   El Claustro de Santo Domingo de Silos, Exile Gallery

2005   Yungang Grottoes, Impleo

            Pilgrimage, Japanese Art, Impleo

2006   In Praise of Japanese Beauty: Japanese Aesthetics Through the Lens of Tomohiro Muda, Coherence

2007   Romanesque: Sacred Buildings in Light (Tankosha)

2010   Yungang Grottoes (Fuzambo International) 

2012   Okugake (LLP Bookend)

            Cîteaux (Heibonsha)

            Buddha's Words of Wisdom (PIE International)

2013   Icons of Time: Memories of the Tsunami that Struck Japan (Heibonsha)

2017   Romanesque: Those Lurking in Light and Darkness (Seikatsu no Tomo)

EXHIBITIONS

1988   “The Land of Sherpa” (Shinjuku Nikon Salon, Tokyo)

1993   “Portraits of Poli” (I.C.A.C. Westin Gallery, Tokyo)

1994   “Ritratti di Poli” (Palazzo Conti, Italy)

2002   “The Cloister of Santo Domingo de Silos” (Exile Gallery, Kyoto)

2004   “Spaces of Prayer, Forms of Prayer” (Impleo Gallery, Tokyo)

2005   “Yungang Grottoes” (Mayuyama, Tokyo)

            “Pilgrimage: Japanese Beauty” (Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo)

            “Rome: The Wall of Time” (Gallery Fukka, Impleo Gallery, Tokyo)

2006   “Tomohiro Muda: In Praise of Japanese Beauty” (Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo)

2007   “Face of Iron” (Gallery Fukka, Tokyo)

            “The Art of the Romanesque” (National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo)

2008   “Romanesque: Lurk in the Shadows” (Gallery Fukka, Tokyo)

            “Santiago–Kumano: Caminos de Peregrinación” (Tanabe Wakayama, Japan / Paris, France / Santiago, Spain / Mitsuo Aida Museum, Tokyo)

            “In the Shadow” (Galerie Etienne de Causans, Paris)

2009   “Clair Obscur” (Mayuyama, Tokyo / Galerie Frédéric Moisan, Paris)

            “À l'Ouest” (Gallery Uchiumi, Tokyo)

2010   “The Wall of Time” (Marunouchi Gallery, Tokyo)

2011   “Yungang Grottoes” (Mayuyama, Tokyo)

            “The Way of St. James: Tomohiro Muda, An Eastern View” (Spanisches Generalkonsulat, Hannover, Germany / Instituto Cervantes, Hamburg, Germany

            “Cistercians” (Nagano, Tokyo)

             “Sacred Place, Prayer, Fantasy” (Koumimachi Kougen Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan)

2012   “Okugake” (Kinpusenji, Nara, Japan)

            “The Land of Sherpa” (Gallery YYZ, Tokyo)

2013   “Les Murs du Temps” (Galerie Yoshii Paris)

2014   “Icons of Time: Memories of the Tsunami that Struck Japan” (The Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo)

            “As Pure as the Lotus: East Asian Ceramics and the Eyes of the Photographer Muda Tomohiro” (The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka)

            “Mizu No Bo” (Kashima Arts, Tokyo)

2015   “Borobudur” (Mayuyama, Tokyo)

            “Zao Gongen and the Secret Treasures of Shugendo” (Mitsui Memorial Museum, Tokyo)

            “Chi-Ku No Bo” (Kashima Arts, Tokyo) 

            “The Wall” (Gallery Cocon, Tokyo)

2016   “Icons of Time: Memories of the Tsunami that Struck Japan” (Japan Foundation Gallery, Sydney)

            “The Power of Colors” (Musee Tomo, Tokyo)

            “Ka-Ku No Bo” (Kashima Arts, Tokyo)

            “Aspects of Water” (Erik Thomsen Gallery, New York)

2017   “The Way of St. James: Tomohiro Muda, An Eastern View” (Palau Pineda, Valencia, Spain / Casa de Cultura, Caudete, Spain / Centre Cívic Tomasa Cuevas, Barcelona / Auditorio Municipal, Ávila, Spain / Gothic House, Barcelos, Portugal / Capilla de San Esteban, Astorga, Spain)

            “Tomohiro Muda: Romanesque” (Mayuyama, Tokyo)

            “Tomohiro Muda, Gose: Fragments of the Universe” (Osaka and Nara, Japan)

            “Icons of Time: Memories of the Tsunami that Struck Japan” (Fitzrovia Chapel, London)

            “Waves of the Lotus” (Yehjinfa, Taipei)

            “Kabe / Ishi, Kioku” (Genra Art, Kanazawa, Japan)

            “Shards of Memory: Photographic Installation by Tomohiro Muda” (Chihanan, Shizuoka, Japan)

2018   “Kabe: Himitsunoarika” (Ikeda Museum of 20th Century Art, Shizuoka, Japan)

2019   “Minamo” (Luca Scandinavia, Tokyo)

            “Voice of Stones” (Genra Art, Kanazawa, Japan)

2020   "Aspects of Water" (Thomsen Gallery, New York)