Hanako Murakami was born in 1984, and currently lives and works in Paris. After receiving her Bachelor of Literature from the University of Tokyo, she received her MA from the Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of New Media. She continued her studies for a year in Belgium with a government scholarship. With a grant from the Pola Art Foundation, she then moved to France, where she joined Le Fresnoy National Studio of Contemporary Art.
Many of Hanako Murakami’s works were produced based on her in-depth research of historical media, such as alternative photographic techniques or letterpress printing. Each of these series of works were accompanied by a text written by Murakami that addressed anecdotes from the original days of mechanical reproduction technology and her own experiences. Her works thus produce situations in which truth and fiction, and historical fact and contemporary hypothesis are knotted together.
Regarding her latest work “The Immaculate”, Murakami writes: "Whilst waiting for the moment to seize the image, that smooth surface was kept untouched, in a dark box. One hundred years has passed through. The accumulation of the darkness in that cold surface seems to have been turned into light."
Her major exhibitions include “The Capital Room: Beyond Three Dimensional Logical Pictures: Hanako Murakami,” Gallery αM, Tokyo (2015); “Panorama 17,” Le Fresnoy, Studio National d’Art Contemporain (2015); “Practice of Everyday Life,” Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (2011); “Tokyo Story,” Tokyo Wonder Site (2010) and “Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale,” Niigata (2009).
