Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat, as selected by Hanna Putz

Artist: Miyoko Ihara
Title: Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat
Publisher: Sun Chiapang (Little More)
Year: 2011
BUY

I discovered this book last year at an exhibition about Japanese photobooks at the Photographers Gallery in London curated by Jason Evans. Out of all the books this one really felt special to me. I love the simplicity of it and the state it seems to be portraying of this old lady and her cat. There’s a certain truthfulness in this series that I admire.


Hanna Putz (b. 1987) Self-taught, In 2012 she was selected as one of the 10 finalists at the Hyeres Contemporary Photography Prize, shortlisted for the 1000 Words Photography Award and selected as ‘one to watch 2013’ by the British Journal of Photography Emerging Photographers. Exhibitions in 2011 and 2012 included: Wald (Pavlovs Dog Gallery, Berlin); Make Me Like It (Vacant Galleries, Austria); and No Fashion, please! (Kunsthalle Wien, Austria). This year her work has been featured in Somatography (Penindaplinena Gallery, Cyprus) and Another Austria (Austrian Cultural Forum, London). She lectures on photography at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria. Her work has been featured in Zeit Magazin, New York Magazine and Dazed & Confused. She lives and works between Vienna and London.