Tokyo is Yours

Meg Hewitt

March 10, 2020

Fascinated by Japanese photography, the Australian self-made photographer, Meg Hewitt, headed to Tokyo to produce an emotional series that transcends photojournalism and leaves room for the viewer’s imagination.
Exalted gestures, obscure figures and unusual settings, Meg Hewitt’s photography can be described as expressive. In Japan, and particularly Tokyo, the Australian photographer found a perfect stage for her photographic creativity. The often exaggerated poses of her protagonists; encountered on the street, in the underground, or at particular kinds of bars, are reminiscent of Japanese Noh dance performers, a tradition that interests her. Even pictures without people look like bizarre theatre backdrops: ventilation shafts crawling along like worms, a displaced-looking group of cranes made out of concrete, a house that seems to have eyes, and between all that an owl in a café.

Hewitt often incorporates local iconography into her pictures, such as wrestling posters and Sumo advertisements. In a similar fashion to photographer duo Caimi & Piccinni, Hewitt prefers to move in the underground scene and in private settings. She avoids slick, faceless Tokyo clichés like skyscrapers and masses of people. Her photography delves deeper, and this also has something to do with the way she works: “I have always been the kind of person that gets in crazy situations, I like to go with the flow and meet people and explore their ideas and ways of living.” In the process, she is always looking for the digressive, things apart that most people would simply pass by. “Many things in life are stranger than fiction and I feel compelled to try and capture them so as to explain them to other people or to revisit the moment myself.”

The whole article can be found in LFI magazine 2/2020.
Quick decision makers can still participate in Meg Hewitt's next photo workshop in Tokyo.
Denise Klink
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Meg Hewitt

Meg Hewitt+-

© Jason Martin_web
© Jason Martin

After completing her studies in Visual Arts, Meg Hewitt spent twelve years running her own restaurant in Sydney before turning to photography. Nowadays, she works on her projects, assists a master printer and runs workshops. Her photo book, Tokyo is Yours, received a number of international awards. In 2019, the photographer had her first solo exhibition in Europe at the Anne Clergue Gallery in Arles. More

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Tokyo is Yours

Meg Hewitt