Atsuko Yamagata

b. 1982, Hokkaido, Japan

Atsuko Yamagata was born in Sapporo City, Hokkaido, Japan and started her career as a visual artist in Tokyo. She moved to the Philippines in 2012 and became actively involved in the art scene in Manila. Beyond The Philippines, Atsuko also exhibits in Japan, Indonesia and Singapore.

Atsuko began as a self-taught artist (she majored in Bahasa at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies), before entering the Musashino Art University in Tokyo to study fine arts professionally. She had her first solo exhibitions in 2017 – “Made Roots Here” at Hotel Nikko Sapporo, “Breathing, Breeding, Blowout ” and “Borrowed Scenery”. These were followed in close succession by another three more shows in 2018 – “Uncontrolled Artificiality”, “Born Softly” and “Belongingness”. Her other exhibitions include the Chiangmai Art Museum and Hunsa Community Open Space.

She was selected to partake in the Nakanojo Biennale 2017 in Gunma Prefecture(Japan) and in 2022, became a finalist for the 2022 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Exhibition in Asia-Pacific.