Yoshie Akita

Yoshie Akita was born in Japan's Kagoshima prefecture, and studied under the photographic pioneer Takashi Kijima. Since 1980, she has focused on the theme of life itself in photos of expectant mothers, infants, and mother-and-child portraits. In her work, she particularly likes to express the power and dynamism of the life force itself.

She has held numerous photo exhibitions in Japan and New York of her collections "Sublime," "Portrait of Pregnancy," "Body Temperature," "WAVE," and "The Two Faces of Innocence". and received highest honors at the 2005 Tashkent International Photo Biennale. In recent years she has undertaken the "Goddess Series," a photographic study of the various aspects of innate feminine strength.

Akita is also a member of the Kokugakai, the Japan Professional Photographers' Society, the Japan Portrait Photographers' Society, and a lecturer at the Nippon Photography Institute.