Biography

Born in 1978, Ayako Sakuragi studied French literature at Sophia University in Tokyo, then fashion design at Studio Berçot in Paris. After eleven years working at Comme des Garçons, she returned to art studies. She graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts (Master’s) in 2021 and from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2022 (DNSAP).

She was a finalist for the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents in 2024, as well as for the Sisley Prize of the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2025. Her work 108 jours is part of the collection of the ARTER Museum (Istanbul). She is currently a resident at La Capsule – Résidence Création Photo, Le Bourget, and a PhD student at the École nationale supérieure de la photographie. She continues her work and experiments between Paris and Arles.

For her, the camera is a non-human perceptual device: devoid of consciousness and intention, it arbitrarily cuts out a fragment of space-time. This gesture can make the world visible in another way. It is not about representing, but about revealing. It is neither form nor content that interests her, but the subtle relationship between existence, invisibility, and perception. Her work explores the boundaries of the image and highlights the importance of invisible elements: time and memory.