Special Exhibition
Selected artworks
- Sacred Places of Asia: The Platinum Photographs of Kenro Izu
- January 5-May 22, 2022
With more than fifty years of his career based in New York, a Japanese photographer, Kenro Izu has travelled extensively seeking out sacred spaces around the world and portraying the inner world of people. This exhibition “Sacred Places of Asia” showcases fifty photographs of sacred sites in various parts of Asia taken between 1993 and 2012.
His works in the exhibition are platinum prints made by contact printing with 14 x 20 inch (35 x 50 cm) negatives taken with an ultra-large format camera that allows to capture the “intricate texture of sacred places” and the “dense air” that embraces them. The subtle nuances of tonality from black to white and an infinite range of grays of the platinum print make Izu’s work stand out as conveying the spiritual essence of existence, different from documentary photography. He once wrote about his photography as “the locus of my search for my own path by means of the sacred place, where the transcendent takes concrete form.”
These photographs of sites throughout Asia offer a window to the world of Kenro Izu that may resonate deeply within the viewers.

- 1949
- Born in the city of Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
- 1967
- Entered the Department of Photography at the College of Art, Nihon University, Tokyo.
- 1971
- Moved to the United States to become a photographer. Has lived in New York since then.
- 1979-
- Began photographing sacred sites including the Pyramids of Egypt, the Mayan ruins in Mexico and Stonehenge in England.
- 1993
- Photographed Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Has since photographed sacred sites throughout Asia.
- 1995
- In New York, founded Friends Without a Border, an NPO with the purpose of establishing children’s hospitals in Cambodia.
- 2002-
- Photographed the series “Bhutan Sacred Within.”
- 2013-
- Photographed the series “India Eternal Light.”
- 2015-
- Photographed the ruins of Pompeii (Italy), Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province (China) and Noh masks (Japan), among others.
- 2021-
- Moved his base to Kanazawa, Japan.
- 2000
- Cultural Advancement Award, Photographic Society of Japan (Japan)
- 2002
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (USA)
- 2007
- Visionary Award, Lucie Awards (USA)
- 2011
- Lucca Photo Award, Lucca Photo Festival (Italy)


Angkor #26
- Ta Prohm, Cambodia 1993


Angkor #79
- Bayon, Cambodia 1994


Borobudur #15
- Indonesia 1996


Kailash #75
- Tibet, China 2000
Next Special Exhibition
- Selected Works from the Hanzomon Museum Collection:
First Public Display - June 1-November 6, 2022
