【Higashikawa Town, Hokkaido】Winners of the 42nd 'Town of Photography' Higashikawa Award Announced
Higashikawa Town, Hokkaido, has announced the winners of the 42nd 'Town of Photography' Higashikawa Award. Maritina Hoogland Ivanow received the Overseas Artist Award, and Eiji Ina received the Domestic Artist Award. The '42nd Higashikawa International Photo Festival,' including the awards ceremony, will be held on August 1st and 2nd.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 1, 2026 at 09:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 1, 2026 at 00:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 1, 2026 at 03:07 (2h 35m after Collected)
Higashikawa Town, Hokkaido, announced the winners of the five categories of the 42nd 'Town of Photography' Higashikawa Award on May 1st. The '42nd Higashikawa International Photo Festival,' which will feature various photography-related events including the awards ceremony, will be held on August 1st and 2nd.
Winners of the 42nd 'Town of Photography' Higashikawa Award:
Overseas Artist Award: Ms. Maritina HOOGLAND IVANOW
Domestic Artist Award: Mr. INA Eiji
New Artist Award: Ms. HAYASHI Noriko
Special Artist Award: Mr. NAKANISHI Toshiki
Hidanoya Sueemon Award: Mr. TAGAWA Motonari
Overseas Artist Award
Photo: My Matson/Moderna Museet
Ms. Maritina HOOGLAND IVANOW / Country of focus: Kingdom of Sweden
Reason for Award: For a series of works including 'CIRCULAR WAIT + SATELLITE + SECOND NATURE' (Livraison Books and Art and Theory, 2015) and 'Shadow Works, Living the Dream' (Livraison Books, 2025).
Born in 1973. Her main forms of expression are photography, video, and bookmaking, focusing on the interaction of filtered light, sound, and images. After an early career as an international photographer in New York, Paris, and London, she moved to Stockholm in 2002 and continues to create there.
She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design (Paris, New York) (1992–1996). She then attended the National College of Art, Craft and Design in Stockholm (2015–2016) and completed a post-master's program at the Royal Institute of Art (2019–2022).
Ivanow's work is characterized by non-linear and associative structures, making extensive use of analog techniques that experimentally explore the opacity and transparency of film. These methods challenge conventional ways of seeing, creating multi-layered visual experiences that resist simple interpretation. Her recent works also focus on the irrational undercurrents of contemporary society, such as emotional responses to climate change and the social and spatial impacts of new technologies.
Her practice also reflects powerful yet delicate responses to social structures, many of which unfold through representations of places, individuals, and subcultures. Ivanow views subcultures as reactions to dominant norms, pointing to something missing in society.
Her works have been widely exhibited internationally, including at Dorothée Nilsson Gallery in Berlin, Kulturhuset in Stockholm, and the Hermès Foundation in New York. Her recent publications include 'Early Reading' (2018) and her latest work, 'Shadow Works, Living the Dream' (2025, Livraison Books). She is currently producing 'Second Nature,' a feature-length documentary following people seeking communal living in nature.
Domestic Artist Award
Mr. INA Eiji
Reason for Award: For the photo exhibition 'Chinkon no Kuni – Yasukuni' (JCII Photo Salon, 2023) and the photo book 'ZONE' (Far East Publishing, 2025).
Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in 1957. Dropped out of the Department of Industrial Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Chubu Institute of Technology in 1977. Graduated from the research course of Tokyo College of Photography in 1984. In 1984, he presented monochrome photographs meticulously capturing the urban landscape of Tokyo with an 8x10 large format camera. Since then, he has photographed themes of modern and contemporary Japan such as cities, environment, military, and history, including communication antennas at US military bases throughout Japan, industrial waste, surveillance cameras scattered in cities, and imperial tombs. Recent solo exhibitions include 'Crystal of Debris' at Canon Gallery S (2020), and a mini-retrospective 'Eyes Outside the Zone – The Photographic World of Eiji Ina' at Ebara Hatakeyama Museum (2026).
He received the 4th Higashikawa Award for New Artists (1988), the Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Award (1998), the Sagamihara Photo Award (2009), and the Kassel Photobook Award (2008–09).
His works are held by the Kawasaki City Museum, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Japan Foundation, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Higashikawa Cultural Gallery, Hokkaido, Kushiro Art Museum, Fukuoka Art Museum, Meiji Jingu, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Peabody Essex Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Winners of the 42nd 'Town of Photography' Higashikawa Award:
Overseas Artist Award: Ms. Maritina HOOGLAND IVANOW
Domestic Artist Award: Mr. INA Eiji
New Artist Award: Ms. HAYASHI Noriko
Special Artist Award: Mr. NAKANISHI Toshiki
Hidanoya Sueemon Award: Mr. TAGAWA Motonari
Overseas Artist Award
Photo: My Matson/Moderna Museet
Ms. Maritina HOOGLAND IVANOW / Country of focus: Kingdom of Sweden
Reason for Award: For a series of works including 'CIRCULAR WAIT + SATELLITE + SECOND NATURE' (Livraison Books and Art and Theory, 2015) and 'Shadow Works, Living the Dream' (Livraison Books, 2025).
Born in 1973. Her main forms of expression are photography, video, and bookmaking, focusing on the interaction of filtered light, sound, and images. After an early career as an international photographer in New York, Paris, and London, she moved to Stockholm in 2002 and continues to create there.
She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design (Paris, New York) (1992–1996). She then attended the National College of Art, Craft and Design in Stockholm (2015–2016) and completed a post-master's program at the Royal Institute of Art (2019–2022).
Ivanow's work is characterized by non-linear and associative structures, making extensive use of analog techniques that experimentally explore the opacity and transparency of film. These methods challenge conventional ways of seeing, creating multi-layered visual experiences that resist simple interpretation. Her recent works also focus on the irrational undercurrents of contemporary society, such as emotional responses to climate change and the social and spatial impacts of new technologies.
Her practice also reflects powerful yet delicate responses to social structures, many of which unfold through representations of places, individuals, and subcultures. Ivanow views subcultures as reactions to dominant norms, pointing to something missing in society.
Her works have been widely exhibited internationally, including at Dorothée Nilsson Gallery in Berlin, Kulturhuset in Stockholm, and the Hermès Foundation in New York. Her recent publications include 'Early Reading' (2018) and her latest work, 'Shadow Works, Living the Dream' (2025, Livraison Books). She is currently producing 'Second Nature,' a feature-length documentary following people seeking communal living in nature.
Domestic Artist Award
Mr. INA Eiji
Reason for Award: For the photo exhibition 'Chinkon no Kuni – Yasukuni' (JCII Photo Salon, 2023) and the photo book 'ZONE' (Far East Publishing, 2025).
Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in 1957. Dropped out of the Department of Industrial Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Chubu Institute of Technology in 1977. Graduated from the research course of Tokyo College of Photography in 1984. In 1984, he presented monochrome photographs meticulously capturing the urban landscape of Tokyo with an 8x10 large format camera. Since then, he has photographed themes of modern and contemporary Japan such as cities, environment, military, and history, including communication antennas at US military bases throughout Japan, industrial waste, surveillance cameras scattered in cities, and imperial tombs. Recent solo exhibitions include 'Crystal of Debris' at Canon Gallery S (2020), and a mini-retrospective 'Eyes Outside the Zone – The Photographic World of Eiji Ina' at Ebara Hatakeyama Museum (2026).
He received the 4th Higashikawa Award for New Artists (1988), the Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Award (1998), the Sagamihara Photo Award (2009), and the Kassel Photobook Award (2008–09).
His works are held by the Kawasaki City Museum, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Japan Foundation, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Higashikawa Cultural Gallery, Hokkaido, Kushiro Art Museum, Fukuoka Art Museum, Meiji Jingu, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Peabody Essex Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.