This catalog accompanies the 2024 exhibition "I'm So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to the Present," organized by Aperture in association with the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival.

Edited by Pauline Vermare and Lesley A. Martin, with contributions from Mariko Takeuchi, Carrie Cushman, and Kelly Midori McCormick, “I’m So Happy You Are Here” challenges and expands the conventional understanding of postwar Japanese photography as a mostly male-written history by highlighting groundbreaking works and biographies of Japanese women photographers. In addition to illustrated portfolios of all the photographers featured, "I'm So Happy You Are Here" offers further critical information through illustrated essays, critical writings and interviews by leading curators, critics, historians, and photographers (including Ishiuchi Miyako, Rinko Kawauchi, Yurie Nagashima, Tokuko Ushioda, and Momo Okabe), and an extensive bibliography.

“While this book does not claim to be fully comprehensive or encyclopedic, its goal is to provide a solid foundation for a more thorough conversation about the contributions of Japanese women to photography—and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in a more robust history of Japanese photography.” ― from the publisher’s description

first edition