Hiromix ヒロミックス

This afternoon I did some research on the Japanese photographer, Hiromix (ヒロミックス) after having her work recommended to me. Her real name is Hiromi Toshikawa (利川 裕美.) Hiromix became famous when she won the 11th New Cosmos of Photography competition, sponsored by Canon, and it was in this online gallery (1) where I found her work, Seventeen Girl Days. The artist’s statement on the website reads;

“The daily life of a 17-year-old high school student is full of danger. Radical days. Passing days. A sadly pitiful world. Why is love painful. ROCK IS MY LIFE. I’m scared that I’m getting closer to becoming an adult. I live, reflecting upon myself.”

The series depict regular, everyday life from a teenager’s perspective.

Photojournalist Alex Coghe presents a review of Hiromix’s work on his blog (2), and includes this quote which was originally found in the International Herald Tribune in 1999;

“Women were expected to be on the other side of the lens, to pose and generate sufficient artistic aura. What female photographers there were followed the rules, based on a strict master-apprentice system. Fledglings fetched, carried and swept, besides mastering the technical jargon and lighting all for at least three years before getting permission to look through the sacred lens.

Hiromix sidestepped all that, most likely in her red spike heels. She had never taken a course, never studied with anyone and wouldn’t know a print dryer if she fell over it. She admitted freely that she didn’t know what a strobe looked like but ‘it doesn’t matter because my camera flashes automatically!’” - Shoji, Kaori. “Young Women Behind the Camera Craze in Tokyo.” International Herald Tribune. International Herald Tribune, 16 Jan. 1999.

I also found a video flip-through of Hiromix’s photbook, ‘Japanese Beauty’ on vimeo (3), but I cannot embed the video in this blog due to permissions.

In an article (4) for the Independent, writer Richard Lloyd Parry notes that Hiromix is “[Japan’s] first teen photographer idol.” (Lloyd Parry, 1999.)  In an interview with Hiromix, conduced in Tokyo, he discovers that “her early work was all shot with a compact point-and-shoot camera of the kind that every high school girl carries round in her handbag.”

In the interview, Hiromix herself asserts that, “there are two kinds of photographs. Fake photographs and documentary. I hate fake photographs! I hate so-called fashion photographs!”

In terms of resonating with my own folio, I do like the aesthetic and rawness of some of the photographs I have found, but I do have this sense that the photographer is trying to portray herself in a particular light, rather in a genuine way (this is backed up in the interview by Lloyd Parry, where Hiromix explains that she deliberately tries to depict herself as cool and edgy, rather than “cute.”) I don’t particularly connect to her earlier work, but I do like some of her later, more editorial style imagery which retains a similar aesthetic but feel more refined (such as the below images, shot for Kenzo. (5))

(1) Hiromix, 1995, Seventeen Girl Days, photographic series, viewed 12 April 2020 <https://global.canon/en/newcosmos/gallery/grandprix/1995-hiromix/index.html>

(2) Coghe, A 2013, Hiromix 利川 裕美 : Girls Power, Alex Coghe, viewed 12 April 2020, <https://www.alexcoghe.com/hiromix-利川 裕美-girls-power/>

(3) Photo Book Store UK 2015, Hiromix - Japanese Beauty, video, viewed 12 April 2020, <https://vimeo.com/106924726>

(4) Lloyd Parry, R 1999, Hiromix: Portrait of the Artist as a Little Madam, Independent UK, viewed 12 April 2020, <https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/real-people-interview-hiromix-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-little-madam-1077349.html>

(5) Hiromix, 2016, Endless Day In Tokyo, photographic series, viewed 12 April 2020, <https://hypebae.com/2016/7/kenzo-hiromix-endless-day-in-tokyo>