Mika Ninagawa: Vira (signed limited edition)

The cherry blossom is like a mirror, reflecting who I am
― Mika Ninagawa

“Vira” is Mika Ninagawa’s homage to the cherry blossom, her love letter to their intense and fragile beauty. Framed on the page by a thick white margin, Ninagawa’s photographs explode with color as she captures the petals throughout their brief lifespan. In white and pink, illuminated by the sun, the moon, or Ninagawa’s flashlight, and contrasted by the blue of the sky, the green of leaves, or – once they have begun to fall – the brown of the ground, the cherry blossom petals flicker, overlap, and blur together so that, although still discernible as real, they seem like Impressionist paintings rather than photographs. The cover is dyed with a pigment extracted from cherry blossom petals collected along the Meguro River in Tokyo in April 2025, and this Japanese edition includes a short text by Japanese poet Mieko Kawakami (only in Japanese).

Title: Vira
Publisher, Year: bookshop M, 2026
Photographer: Mika Ninagawa
Format: Hardcover, Slipcase
Size: 22.8 x 16.8 cm, 160 pages