Hiromix Works (Rockin' On)
Hiromix is the pseudonym for Hiromi Toshikawa who was born in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward in 1976. She is a multi-talented individual who is mainly known for being a Japanese photographer. She is also a writer, DJ, model, artist, and musician.
As a high school student, Hiromix took part in being a hishatai (a subject for photography, not to be confused with being a model), for Nobuyoshi Araki. At the shoot, she met Araki’s then assistant Takashi Homma, who has become a famous photographer in his own right. It was Araki and Homma who inspired her to take pictures on her own.
In 1995, she won the New Cosmos of Photography Award, an award sponsored by Canon. The youngest person to do so. The award was established in 1991 and is “Canon’s cultural support project to discover, nurture, and support new photographers pursuing new possibilities in creative photographic expression”. Hiromix was nominated by world-renowned Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki for her series of pictures titled Seventeen Girl Days which depicts life from a teen’s point of view.
After winning the award, Hiromix has gone on to publish nine books of photography between the years of 1995 and 2005. She became known outside of Japan with the publication of her book Hiromix by Steidl in 1998 which was edited by French photography critic Patric Remy. She also won Germany’s Kodak Photo Prize in the same year.
Hiromix Works is a collection of her full-color photographs taken between the years 1995 and 1999. Her subjects range from musicians to models, actors to artists and illustrators. All the pictures are candid shots and have a very casual feel to them. Some of the featured subjects have become known in the West as well such as actor Tadanobu Asano and designer Nigo, creator of fashion brand A Bathing Ape. Other photos are of ordinary everyday items such as a rack of bowling balls, pizza, a school bag, a shelf full of masks and more.
Hiromix could be looked upon as the Annie Leibovitz of the East as her pictures are often used in music and fashion magazines such as Rockin’ On Japan, Men’s Non-No, Cosmopolitan, and Cutie to name a few. Her works also feature international recording artists such as The Beastie Boys, Marilyn Manson, Sean Lennon, and Skunk Anansie.
Being an amateur photographer myself, there was a time when I was hooked on buying photography and coffee table books by a variety of photographers. I had picked up Hiromix Works shortly after its publication but only recognized a few faces. All the others were like Japanese citizens to me.
After living in Japan for well over twenty-five years, I decided to revisit Hiromix Works to see how her pictures stand up today. I am glad to say they are great now just as they were when this book was first published. On a more positive side, I now recognize almost all of the subjects of her pictures including Hiromix’s self-portraits.
I still enjoy taking pictures but I’m not confident enough to make them public. I admire people who pursue their dreams and become successful. Hats off to Hiromix and others! ~Ernie Hoyt