Photographer Anna Jełowicka is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Japanese Women’. To see Anna ’s body of work, click on any photograph.

The photographs were captured during my journey to Japan in 2024. In search of inspiration prior to my visit, I delved into various books, poems, and essays that explored the status of women in Japanese culture, both historically and in contemporary times.

“For a time the mountains have been asleep, 

But long ago, they danced with fire. 

(…)

All the sleeping women 

Are now awake and moving.”

“The Day the Mountains Move” by Yosano Akiko

Japanese Women: a photographic series rooted in 幽⽞ – Yūgen

My connection with photography has many layers that constantly surprise me. It’s an escape – a way to dive beneath the surface of everyday reality and uncover hidden worlds. It’s also a quest, a way to look inward. Sometimes, it’s about finding and portraying true beauty. Other times, it offers therapeutic value; going out with camera to the streets or walking in the woods becomes a meditation.

This photographic series, “Japanese Women” came from an intense two-week trip to several Japanese cities. I spent a long time preparing, studying Japanese art history, aesthetic concepts, cultural and social contexts and crucial etiquette rules. One of the most influential books for this project was Karolina Bednarz’s powerful “Flowers in a Box” which describes the life of contemporary Japanese women providing also wide historical context.

Given the short timeframe, which wasn’t enough for a deeper sociological insight, my goal was to immerse myself in the rhythm of the streets and capture glimpses of Japanese women’s realities. I looked for gestures, body language, and facial expressions that echoed the themes from my readings. The photos portray various facets of being a Japanese woman: modern, independent, respectful of tradition, navigating the turmoil of daily life, often sleep-deprived, delicately beautiful. By choosing a black-and-white aesthetic and high contrast, I aimed to connect my photos with minimalist traditional ink painting.

Despite the overwhelming impressions and chaos I experienced in this new environment, I wanted my images to reflect the spirit of 幽⽞– yūgen: a beauty that can’t be described with words, a longing for something we can’t name. It’s beauty in both shadow and light, requiring us to slow down, perceive, reflect, accept, and embrace life’s essence in all its darkness and light, shadow and glow, emptiness and abundance. I tried to photograph the same way – staying still and waiting for those mystic moments.

Bio

Anna Jełowicka is a freelance photographer based in Poland, member of @Collective_21. She started her photographic path with landscape photography and now focuses on street and documentary. 

She holds a postgraduate degree in Art History from the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Her work has recently been featured in group exhibitions in Poland and abroad:

“Image Creation” curated by Mariusz Gajewski, Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, “Transgressions” curated by Studium

Sztuki, Women Street Photographers Annual Exhibition New York, Street Badass Festival, London, Rome International Street Photography, Tokyo Street Photography Festival by FRAME TOKYO, Trieste Urban Photo Award Festival, Rome Street Conclave by @rromastreet.

Her images have been published in landscape albums in Poland and in the 2024 annual publication by Polish Women Photographers.

All images and text © Anna Jełowicka