Beyond memory: Tomoko Yoneda’s first UK solo exhibition in 10 years

Nothing in the zen-like spaces photographed by Tomoko Yoneda indicates the destruction that once reigned in them, but the titles offer a clue. In Lovers After the Thaw (pictured), a couple embrace in a swimming pool in post-Cold War Hungary. In Sniper View, a nondescript city-scape is injected with a sense of danger when you realise it was the vantage point of a Serbian marksman. 

 

Yoneda is most famous for photographs of rooms used as mortuaries during Japanese earthquakes. The drawn curtains and soft light suggest peace, the only remnant of destruction is Yoneda herself, haunting the room from her position behind the camera.

 

Born in Hyogo, Japan in 1965 Yoneda lives and works in London. She studied photography at The University of Illinois, Chicago and at the Royal College of Art, London. This new exhibition at Grimaldi Gavin in Mayfair is her first major UK exhibition in 10 years.