My name is Toru Ukai (鵜養　透). I'm a Tokyo-based photographer and take pictures in Japan and occasionally somewhere in China or Europe.

My website is the following:

TORU UKAI Photography

What interests me the most is hidden and invisible structure in our modern society. The structure is working everywhere we live. Originally it’s born out of the whole desire of us, though it could often suppress and depress ourselves. I call the structure “Invisible Machinery”. Sometimes it’s embodied in the social systems, the law and the architecture. Sometimes it appears in our own behavior, gestures and figures. “Invisible Machinery” lies in the outside and even in the inside of us. It’s invisible but the signs are everywhere around/among us. And I think a photograph could capture the invisible structure so well.

A photo is totally different from our pure eyesight. Our eyesight is dynamic and based on the duration of time, that is, our life itself; on the other hand, a photo is static and excludes time/life from the whole reality in front of us. In the sense photography is the art of death. To photograph is nothing other than to "stop". Therefore, a photo could perceive something hidden in our daily life which flows continuously. Photography is a secret ceremony going back and forth between "visible" and "invisible".

I’m always ready to join some photographic project all over the world and open to your suggestions.

Thank you for visiting.

My work is available in IBASHO gallery in Antwerp or from myself:

My Personal History:

1998 Won a prize in 7th "New Cosmos of Photography - 写真新世紀 - "

2000 Exhibition in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Sendai： "LOVE & POWER Borderless World"

2002-2006 Photos and essays appeared serially in the magazine of NHK Publishing, Inc.

2005 Solo Exhibition in Tokyo：

"From the Terminal Station ～ Guangzhou Railway Station･1997"

2006-2010 I entirely stopped taking pictures.

2011 Solo Exhibition in Shanghai : "TOKYO･SHANGHAI Between heaven and earth"

2013 Duo Exhibition in Lodz, Poland : "RESONANCE" with Piotr Debinski

2013-14 Collective Exhibition in Thuin, Belgium：

2014 Joined the theatre piece "Pulvérisés" at Théâtre National de Strasbourg, France.

2014 My booklet "Invisible Machinery" was published by the Velvet Cell in UK.

2014-15 Collective Exhibition in Thuin, Belgium："Pour le plaisir"

2015 Collective Exhibition in the Netherlands and Belgium："Bozar de l'Abattoir 2015"

2015-16 Collective Exhibition in Lodz, Poland："Autoportret"

2016 Duo Exhibition in Charleroi, Belgium："Double Attractions" with André Fromont

2016 "Unseen Photo Fair" in Amsterdam

2017 My books, "Invisible Machinery" and "Invisible Boundaries" were published by iki Editions in France as part of the library Le Pont Rouge.

2018 Exhibition in Tokyo："Le Pont Rouge, exposition collective"

2018 Exhibition in Antwerp："Ni'homme"

2018 Exhibition in Berlin：Dezember - Verkaufsausstellung

2019 Photo Basel in Switzerland

2019 Duo Exhibition in Berlin："Tokyo Meets Berlin - A Tale of Two Cities" with Markus Lehr

2019 Exhibition in Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands：Denkbeelden. Picturing dilemmas of technological change

2022 Rotterdam Photo 2022 XL in the Netherlands

2022 Exhibition in Antwerp：Toshi - City

2023 A book, "C’est quoi pour vous la photographie ?" was published by The CHIBI association in France.

2025 My book, "Far Away from Here…" was published.

My work also appears in the following gallery, magazines, etc.:

IBASHO gallery in Antwerp

The Eye of Photography/L'Œil de la Photographie

YourDailyPhotograph -Apr. 7, 2025

YourDailyPhotograph -Jul. 12, 2022

YourDailyPhotograph -Nov. 10, 2021

YourDailyPhotograph -Jul. 13, 2021

ADFPHOTO "Toru Ukai «Whispering in the Suburbs»" -Feb. 2023

Another Something

GRAM #4 -327 grams of VOID- by Gram Publishing

Arte Fotográfica #90

Brennpunkt vol.4, 2019

"Sky-colored Small Bird" by Kozue Ohsaki(cover photo)

Artist as Curator – Spectacle in Photography in Belfast Photo Festival 2013

Excerpt Magazine Issue 6

Aubade Magazine Issue 8

VIEW Magazine issue 4

Refractions Magazine issue 3

Refractions Magazine issue 4

F-Stop Magazine "On the Road" Issue

F-Stop Magazine "Happy Accidents" Issue

F-Stop Magazine "Spring/New Beginnings" Issue

F-Stop Magazine "Open Theme" Issue

F-Stop Magazine "Wonder-Full" Issue

F-Stop Magazine "Enthusiasm" Issue

F-Stop Magazine "Home" Issue

Arte Fotografica #82

For a « Neue Subjektive Fotographie »

You can also find me in Facebook and Facebook Page