Michael Kenna

Michael Kenna, born in 1953, Widnes, England.  One of five children, from a working class Irish-Catholic family, his early ambition was to join the priesthood.  However, a love of the arts lead him to the Banbury School of Art where he studied painting and then photography. He later attended the London College of Printing and starting working as a photographer and artist.   He realised that there wasn’t much chance of making a living as a painter living in England so studied photography in part because he knew he could at least attempt to make a living doing commercial work

He moved to San Francisco in 1977 and this has remained his home ever since.

Michael Kenna's work is often described as 'engimatic, graceful and hauntingly beautiful' much like the Japanese landscape that he first visited in 1987, he has since travelled extensively, all over the country constantly taking photographs, 95 of which make up the book 'Japan'.

Michael constructs his work over long-term projects which may require him to go back to places he already knows and has photographed many times, exploring them over and over again.
“I like to be working on three or four projects at once, and even when these projects are supposedly finished I often continue working on them indefinitely.” His projects can take as long  as seven or eight years to complete. His study of concentration camps, which he donated to France took over ten years and led him to the sites of all the Nazi camps still remaining.

Michael Kenna's work presents the landscape devoid of human figures. Yet, the trace of a human presence is there, in what we leave behind.  His photographs are often taken at dawn or during the night, with long exposures of up to 10 hours. 

Pier Remains, Bognor Regnis, Sussex, England, 1990

Rock Formations, Study 3, Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan, 2004

Both of the images above are great examples of the 'hauntingly beautiful' that is often used to describe Michael Kenna's work.