Masayo Nishimura
Masayo Nishimura is a native of Osaka, Japan. She moved to the US in 1986. In 1993, she began her studies in photography at Hunter College, City University of New York, where she discovered her interest in New York City's subway stations. In 1999, she began working on a series of color photographs that engaged with the light and shadows created by subway architecture. This work, Uptown Bound, was first exhibited in September 2001 in New York City.
While working with photography, she also created an animated film, a subway love story titled Dream. In 2000, Dream was screened at the Museum of Modern Art as an official selection of the New Directors/New Films Festival.
Since 2008, she has frequently returned to her native Japan, capturing everyday scenes in the Tokyo subways and streets. These works were first exhibited in New York City in 2011 as part of the Recollections: From New York to Tokyo exhibition. In 2012, she traveled to the northernPacific coast of Japan and documented the aftermath of tsunami-hit towns. This work, The New Horizon - Scenes in Northern Japan, was exhibited nearly two years after the disaster in 2014. She also documented the many faces of her hometown - Senri New Town, an aging "model city" located just north of Osaka City. This work, My Old 'New Town' – Recollections Vol. 3, was exhibited in 2016. A sequential series of color photographs, featuring pedestrians scattered across Tokyo’s busy business streets, titled Crossing the Road, was exhibited in 2021. Currently, she lives and works in New York City.
Masayo Nishimura
Solo Exhibitions:
2025 Uptown Bound, Place M Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2021 Crossing the Road, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2018 Uptown Bound- Retrospective, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2016 My Old ‘New Town’ – Recollections Vol.3, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2014 The New Horizon, – Scenes in northern Japan nearly two years after the disaster, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2012 Recollections vol.2: Tokyo, June 2011, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2011 Uptown Bound – First & Another 10th Anniversary, Gallery 502a, New York City
2011 Recollections: From New York to Tokyo, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2009 Uptown Bound, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2008 Uptown Bound, Abrons Arts Center, Henry Street Settlement, New York City
2006 Uptown Bound, PaulaBarr, Chelsea, New York City
2001 Scene #1, SoHo Photo Gallery, New York City
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2022 Soho Photo: The Best of Our First Fifty Years, SoHo Photo Gallery, New York City
2019 Raising Women's Voices, 2019, Members Group Show, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2017 My Favorite Things, Members Group Show, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2015 Uptown Bound, Exposure Group show, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2015 OUT and OUT, Photographs, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2014 Three Decades of Ceres, Ceres Group Show, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2012 Recollections: From New York to Tokyo, Exposure Group show, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2011 What matters now? Proposals for a new front page, Aperture Gallery, New York City
2010 Some Notion of Perfection, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2009 Ineffable Woman: a Bi-Coastal Conversation about Women's Art, Ceres Gallery, New York City
2009 Ineffable Woman: a Bi-Coastal Conversation about Women's Art, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco
2001 Group Show, SoHo Photo Gallery, New York City
2000 Generations II, A.I.R.Gallery in SoHo, New York City
1999 MFA Thesis Show, Visual Art Gallery in SoHo, New York City
1997 Generations, A.I.R.Gallery in SoHo, New York City
1997 Something Twisted, SVA Eastside Gallery, New York City
1997 Five Vu, Synchronicity Space in SoHo, New York City
1996 Convers Asia, Open House Exhibition in SoHo, New York City
1996 Force of Habit, Repetition Reinforces Collectively, A.I.R.Gallery in SoHo, New York City
Selected Video & Film Screenings:
2000 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival, San Jose, California
2000 Dallas Video Festival, Dallas, Texas
2000 New Directors/New Films, Film Society of Lincoln Center & Museum of Modern Art, New York (screened at MOMA)
2000 Film Fest New Heaven, New Heaven, Connecticut
2000 Taos Talking Picture Film Festival, Taos, New Mexico
2000 Thaw 00:Festival of Video, Film, and Digital media, Iowa City, Iowa
2000 ARCIPELAGO-Festival Internazionale di Cortometraggi e Nuove Immagini, Rome, Italy
2000 Stony Brook Film Festival, Stony Brook, New York
2000 CYNETart 00, Dresden, Germany
1999 ANIMAC, Mostra Internacional De Cinema D'animacio, Lleida, Spain
1999 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, San Luis Obispo, California
1999 The Louisville Film and Video Festival, Louisville, Kentucky
1999 The New York Exposition of Short Film and Video, NYC, New York
1999 Telluride IndieFest, Telluride, Colorado
Television Broadcasting:
2003 WNET/Thirteen, the eighth annual Reel New York
2000 The Territory, programmed by South West Alternative Media Project (SWAMP)
Awards:
2000 Director's Choice Award, Black Maria Film Festival
2000 Student Academy Award, New York regional finalist
2000 Honorable Mention, Rochester International Film Festival
1999 Honorable Mention, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
1999 Jurors' Award, The Louisville Film and Video Festival
1999 Jury Award, The New York Exposition of Short Film and Video Festival
1999 Short Video Winner, Telluride IndieFest
Bibliography:
2012 Masayo Nishimura: Recollections vol. 2, Tokyo, June 2011 Ceres Gallery By Tema Stauffer, www.manafinearts.com
2011 Snap frozen moments: Masayo Nishimura at Ceres Gallery by Lynette Chiang, Chelsea Gallerista - http://chelseagallerista.blogspot.com/
2011 Fashion Week Fall 2011 / Getaways from the Runways, GOTHAM MAGAZINE - http://www.gotham-magazine.com
2011 3 Cool Things to Do This Weekend | CityRover New York, by Esther Zinn - http://cityrover.com/new-york/
2009 Uptown Bound: Ceres presents Masayo Nishimura's New York City subway photographs, by Lorenzo Dominguez, NY Photography Examiner
2001 Through the looking glass: Japanese artists on view in N.Y. by Catherine Heines The Daily Yomiuri
2000 ND/NF: Short Films Make it Big, Where You'll Find the Next Spike Jonze by Anthony Kaufman, http://indiewire.com
Publication:
Uptown Bound, a photography book published by Sokyusha, Tokyo, Japan in 2024
Education:
MFA Computer Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York
BA Theater Arts, Hunter College of City University of New York
BFA Oil Painting, Women's College of Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan