Rei Niwa

Rei Niwa is interested in documenting and introducing the world to traditional Japanese culture. Niwa’s work has a strong sense of place and interconnectedness.

His photos are an interesting combination of documentary and portraiture photography, only one of the juxtapositions that make his work so captivating. Niwa was born during the time when Japanese traditional practices were beginning to decline. The result is that his photos are timeless; we see the traditional trappings of the festivals Niwa regards as his main focus, but there is always a hint of modernity that snaps us back to the present, the background betrays the subject: the profile of a man in trendy glasses, a woman in a polyester skirt at the edge of the frame. He takes advantage of depth of field in his photographs and this further accents the contradictions in the scenes as well as society. Niwa began photographing at the age of 13 and belongs to belongs to the All-Japan Association of Photographic Society and The Photographic Society of Japan.