Contemporary Fine Art Photography

Eriko Kaniwa is an international award-winning fine art digital artist based in Tokyo, and the creator of SENSEGRAPHIA FINE ART. Sensegraphia is a conceptual redefinition of photography, in which the visual aesthetics of the photograph are used to develop and express a sense of nature that enables us to recognize that humans are a part of the Earth. It is a major concept underlying her works.  

Kaniwa spent two years exploring the symbols of Japanese nature worship, which are exemplified in the so-called “eight million gods” of Shinto. She reflected on how the ancient Japanese viewed their natural surroundings and symbolized it as an object of prayer. Traveling to over twenty locations throughout Japan, she captured images of torii gates built in water, sacred “wedded rocks,” World Heritage Sites, and other spiritual landscapes. These images are collected, together with text, in her book JOKEI – Symbols of Nature Worship, Sacred Places in Japan, which has won multiple international awards as a fine art photo book. In addition to JOKEI, her other works have also received further international awards, including PX3, ND Awards, Sony World Photography Awards, IPA, and more.  

Kaniwa creates digitally enhanced artwork based on her unique philosophy. Her work has been displayed at galleries in London and New York, as well as at art fairs and international exhibitions such as Fotofever Paris 2018/2019 and Barcelona Foto Biennale 2018.  Her art has been seen in magazines such as British VOGUE, British GQ, Wired, and has also been featured in the 100 Artists of the Future, Art Collectors Choice, OPENEYE, London Life Magazine, and NY-ARTNews among many others.
 

“To take photographs and look at them is to become a witness to the manifestation of events that appear and disappear within the flow of time immemorial. For me, photography is not a philosophical metaphor for death or the past, but rather a crystallization of the temporal dimension with which humans react so vitally, achieved through the medium of light.” 

While embracing a major concern about the sixth mass extinction of animals on the planet currently in progress, Kaniwa is now actively exploring whether it is possible to incorporate her creative concept with these issues.

Abstract - Texture of Absurdity 

Defenseless in the face of absurdity, not knowing the source of its injury, the land of my spirit suffered a deep wound.  

The ground of my heart split open like a sheer cliff, and the bottomless darkness beyond the edge brimmed with emptiness like the depths of the sea. From this void surged a magma that would not be stymied. 

Time passed, the magma cooled and hardened, and various textures became visible on the face of the precipice. Fragments of my cries were imprinted in the scars where the slopes had collapsed. When all was again momentarily at peace, fragments of memories fluttered through this space like butterflies. Presently, grass began to grow, and flowers blossomed on the undulating black cliffs and earth below.  

For all our intelligence, we have no answer to the question of how to live. This is perhaps the greatest absurdity of all.  

Absurdity is the child of order and chaos. It the evidence that something has been born. The abstract made manifest through me might be small bugs spit out by absurdity. Like bugs, there is a reason for absurdity’s existence.  

Eriko Kaniwa

Digital Artist

Tokyo, Japan

2019

2022:

International Photography Awards 2022:  Official Selection in "Nature, Underwater" Category

2021: 

Sony World Photography Awards  / National & Regional Awards (JAPAN)  Short Listed

2020:   

London International Creative Competion 2020 - Finalist, Official Selection in Create (Art)

PX3:  The Prix de la Photographie Paris:

- Two Silver Prizes in the Book / Fine Art competition for "Texture of Absurdity"

- Honorable Mention in the Fine Art / Digitally enhanced category

IPA - International Photography Awards: 

Second place in the Special Digitally Enhanced Category

Fine Art Photography Awards:
Two nominations in the Photo Manipulation category

2019:

The Photography Gala Awards:

Overall Winner of the 13th Pollux Awards, Non-Professional Section, for the series ‘Aesthete’

PX3: Prix de la Photographie Paris:

One Bronze Award and Two Honorable Mentions in the Fine Art / Collage Category

Fine Art Photography Awards: 

Two Nominations in the Photo Manipulation Category

2018:

The Photography Gala Awards / 12th Pollux Awards:

Winner in Series Category: Digital Manipulation & Collage.
Three Honorable Mentions in Single Photo Category: Digital Manipulation & Collage

IPA - International Photography Awards: 

Third Place: Digitally Enhanced Category
 

PX3 - The Prix de la Photographie Paris:

Two Honorable Mentions
 

Royal Arts Prize V Edition:

Shortlisted and Winner: Three works from "Spiritual Landscape in Japan"
 

Sony World Photography Awards 

Commended Photographer
 

2017:

Tokyo International Foto Awards: 

First Place in Fine Art Photo Book Category for "JOKEI - Nature Worship, Sacred Places in Japan"

Neutral Density Photography Awards:

ND Discovery of the Year
Fine Art Discovery of the Year 

First Place, Gold Star Award in Fine Art - Landscape Category

Sony World Photography Awards:  

Commended Photographer 

IPA - International Photography Awards:
First Place: Self published Fine Art Book, for "JOKEI- Nature Worship, Sacred Places in Japan"
Second Place: Self Published Book, Other Category, for "JOKEI - Nature Worship, Sacred Places in Japan"
Third Place: Nature/Wildlife Category 

Fine Art Photography Awards:
First Place: Wildlife / Animals Category

Second Place: Wildlife /Animals Category 

Monochrome Awards:
Honorable Mention
 

2016:

Sony World Photography Awards:
Commended Photographer
 

Neutral Density Photography Awards:

Honorable Mention
 

Monochrome Awards:

International Black and White Photography: Honorable Mention 

"Texture of Absurdity," Atelier VGI, New York, 2020

"JOKEI- Nature Worship, Sacred Places in Japan,"  SENSEGRAPHIA FINE ART, Japan, 2017

House of Coco (London): “Eriko Kaniwa Shares Her Experience of Working as a Fine Art Photographer in Japan” (May, 2019)

British GQ Online (March, April, May, 2019)

London Life Magazine: “Spiritual Landscape Photography of Japan” (March, 2019)
 

Contemporary Art Curator Magazine: “100 Artists of the Future” (2019)

NY Art News: “Meet the Artist Eriko Kaniwa” (2018)
 
ARTE GLOBALE on Artsy: “Eriko Kaniwa Transcendent Contemporary Photography” (2018) 

We Inspire 26 by Camera Pixo (2017)

Exhibitions

Al-Tiba9 Gallery (Barcelona):  2021 Group Show, "Future is Today, Vol. 2" 

La Galleria (London): 2018 Group Show (received Royal Arts Prize)

Art Gallery M84 (Tokyo): Summer 2017 Group Show, “Recital Contest of Fine Art Photography”

Fotografia Sensuel (Tokyo): 2009 Solo Show

Tokyo Hipsters Club (Tokyo): 2008 Group Show, “Visual Shock” 

Horiuchi Color Gallery (Tokyo): 2006 Solo Show, “Portrait Art”
 

Fairs and Events

Shibuya Station Exhibition during the TOKYO ART FAIR (March 2019):
 

Fotofever Paris 2018 and Collectors Apartment Exhibition

CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show 2018 (Japan) - Collaboration with Epson
 

Barcelona Foto Biennale 2018: 5th Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography