Biography
Satoru Niwa is a photographer and an anthropologist.
He started working as a photojournalist in 2009. The photographs he took there were published in foreign media such as The Times, The Telegraph, Le point, and Del Spiegel. In 2012, a photo story entitled “再生-Saisei-” a photo reportage of Japanese suicide attempts was awarded the highest praise in the RPS Tokyo Documentary Photography Workshop and he held a solo exhibition at the Ginza Ricoh Gallery RING CUBE. For exploring an alternative way of visual representation that is not tied to the form of photojournalism, he has studied visual anthropology in academia since 2019.
/ CAREER /
2011 – 2018: Photojournalist
2019 – 2021: MA Visual and Media Anthropology at HMKW Berlin
2022 – Current: Doctoral student, Anthropology, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies at Kyoto University
/ ACADEMIC PAPERS (peer-reviewed) /
Satoru Niwa, A New Art Form Emerging in Google Street View: Secondary Use of Digital Content and Fair Use, Journal of Visual and Media Anthropology, Vol. 5. No. 1, 2020.
/ ACADEMIC PRESENTATION /
Satoru Niwa, Living in Urban Periphery – Visual Anthropology for Exploring Socio-spatial Exclusion and Homelessness in Tokyo, The 56th Research Conference of Japan Cultural Anthropology, P-5, Meiji Univ., June 2022.
Satoru Niwa, Attempts to Visualize Socio-spatial Exclusion and Lived-experience of the Marginalized – An Case study of Homelessness in Tokyo, Anthro-film Laboratory 45, Online, Oct 2021.
Satoru Niwa, Digital Eye ― Blind and Visually Impaired in the Digital Age, Journal of Visual and Media Anthropology, Vol. 5. No. 1, 2020
Satoru Niwa, A Counter Cartography of Socio-spatial Exclusion in Shibuya. Throwntogetherness – The Graduation Exhibition of HMKW Berlin MA Visual and Media Anthropology, Gallery Halo, May 2022
/ PHOTO AWARD /
2011 Winner at A True Story Photo Award
2012 Finalist at Kuala Lumpur International Photo Award
2012 Scholarship at Tokyo Documentary Photography workshop
2020 Finalist at Passe Partout Prize
2020 Honorable mention at ND Awards
/ GROUPE EXHIBITION /
2010 “Iwai-shima” at Earth garden in Asakusa, Japan
2011 “D-Light” at Kujyakudou in Asakusa, Japan
2011 “A True Story” at Vermont photo space, USA
2011 “Special exhibition Disaster of Japan” at VISA pour l’image in Perpignan, France
2011 “Life and Culture in Asia” in Seoul, Korea
2012 “Kuala Lumpur International Photo Award” in KL, Malaysia
2019 The Glasgow Gallery of Photography in the UK
2020 “EARTH” at Zest Hall, presented by Round Lemon in the UK
2020 Ars Electronica x .ART Global Gallery
/ SOLO EXHIBITION /
2012 “Saisei” at Ginza Ricoh Garelly Ring Cube in Tokyo, Japan
/ PHOTO AGENCY /
Barcroft Media(UK)
Transterra Media(UK)
/ CLIENTS /
Photography:
AERA(JP), Asahi Camera(JP), Blue Press(UK), DAYS JAPAN(JP), Der Spiegel(GER), Le Point(FRA), OK! magazine(UK), Syukan Kinyobi(JP), Sekai(JP), The Telegraph(UK), The Times(UK) and more..
Movie:
Public Broadcasting Service(USA)