Friday, June 12, 2026 – Friday, August 7, 2026
While still a student at Tokyo College of Photography (now Tokyo Polytechnic University), mitch ikeda (1958-) was given a commission and began photographing musicians professionally. He traveled to England in 1985, marking the beginning of his work overseas. He has continued his photography of the music scene here and abroad for more than 45 years. This exhibition offers a comprehensive view of his long career.
Ikeda has maintained relationships with a variety of musicians for many years and decades, and his photographic style is based on close communication that has developed as a result. He has won the deep trust of musicians around the world, and his photographs are often featured on album covers and posters.
In Japan, he served as official photographer for such musicians as Kyosuke Himuro and the bands The Yellow Monkey and Asian Kungfu Generation. In 2018, he published a photobook of Kazuya Yoshii (leader of The Yellow Monkey), Mitsume-au Futari (Gazing at Each Other; Genkosha). The book is comprised of photographs taken over the long span of 25 years, from 1993 to 2018. The hand-bound volume is unusually large, measuring 60 cm x 45 cm.
Overseas, Ikeda has photographed the band Oasis from the time of their debut to the present; the band drew worldwide attention when they reunited for a tour in 2025. He has also shot musicians Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) and Beck, and numerous British and American bands, including Manic Street Preachers, Rancid, and Korn. In 2003, he published an Oasis photobook, Live Forever (Rockin’ on Japan). In 2002, he published Forever Delayed: Photographs of the Manic Street Preachers (Vision On), featuring the prominent British band from Wales.
As part of his life work, he has been shooting the world’s largest outdoor music event, the Glastonbury Festival in England, for nearly 40 years since 1986. In addition to the musicians gracing the stages, he has turned his lens on the audience and the staff of the host organizations.
In this year, the fiftieth of his ongoing photographic career, numerous exhibitions and publications are planned. One history of the world’s music scene is faithfully etched in Mitch Ikeda’s work.
Born 1958. Graduated from the Junior College Department of the Tokyo College of Photography (now Tokyo Polytechnic University) in 1982. Ikeda began photographing the music scene while still a student. He traveled to Britain in 1985, and after 1995 maintained residences in both Britain and Japan, as he engaged his work overseas more thoroughly. He has developed trusting relationships with well-known musicians here and abroad and has often accompanied musicians on tours and during recording sessions. 2026 marks the 50th year of Ikeda’s photographic activity.
