{"id":34222,"date":"2026-01-23T10:28:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T10:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/?p=34222"},"modified":"2026-01-23T23:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:34:35","slug":"kazumi-sakurai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/2026\/01\/23\/kazumi-sakurai\/","title":{"rendered":"Kazumi Sakurai"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"34222\" class=\"elementor elementor-34222\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5f78a40 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5f78a40\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1db479e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1db479e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.21.0 - 22-05-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>Where do you live: Kauai<br>Your education: Learned camera basics from my parents as a child, then self-taught<br>Your discipline: Photography<br><strong><br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kazumisakurai.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> |&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kazu_arte\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><br><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2e6e1e5 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"2e6e1e5\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c6036fb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c6036fb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-34205 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Unnamed-22.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Unnamed-22.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Unnamed-22-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Unnamed-22-1024x731.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Unnamed-22-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Unnamed-22-600x429.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><\/h4><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your relationship with photography began almost at birth, through your father\u2019s camera. How do you feel this origin story continues to shape the emotional core of your work today?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don\u2019t consciously remember it, but what I felt from my father through the viewfinder \u2014 like many children \u2014 was love.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Receiving love, feeling connected, being held. That feeling became something very simple: joy, safety, and a quiet permission to exist. I believe that still connects directly to my work today.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">In certain moments, something in my heart trembles very gently, and that becomes the feeling of \u201cI want to photograph.\u201d Perhaps it is also a desire to connect.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34206 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Sunflower-2018.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Sunflower-2018.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Sunflower-2018-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Sunflower-2018-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Sunflower-2018-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Sunflower-2018-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Kazumi Sakurai | Sunflower | 2018<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">You describe photography as \u201can exchange of love.\u201d What does love mean in your images, and how do you recognize it when it appears in a photograph?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s simply what I feel drawn to\u2014what feels beautiful, or quietly moving. Sometimes it\u2019s something tender, sometimes something a little sad, sometimes something I find sweet or endearing.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Love, for me, is whatever makes the heart move.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34207 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Phantom.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"699\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Phantom.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Phantom-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Phantom-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Phantom-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Phantom-600x399.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Kazumi Sakurai | Phantom<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">Memory and nostalgia play a central role in your practice. Do you photograph in order to remember, or to reinterpret memory through the present moment?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don\u2019t think too much when I photograph. In that sense, it may be both \u2014 or neither.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sometimes it feels like memory, and sometimes it feels less like memory and more like an atmosphere. Often, what remains in the photograph is not the past itself, but a present moment that carries a certain mood or feeling.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I like returning to my images over time. Each time I look at them again, the relationship shifts slightly, and I often receive new realizations. These quiet changes are an important part of my practice.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many of your images feel quiet, restrained, and deeply contemplative. How important is silence or stillness in your creative process?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u2019ve come to realize how essential it is. Without a sense of quiet presence\u2014of simply being there\u2014the heart doesn\u2019t open.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34208 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Peek.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"686\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Peek.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Peek-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Peek-1024x669.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Peek-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Peek-600x392.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Kazumi Sakurai | Peek<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">You work across commercial, fine art, and documentary photography. How do these different practices influence one another, and where do you feel most at home?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel most at home somewhere between fine art and documentary.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fine art is where I feel free to express myself, but I believe that freedom is rooted in documentary ways of seeing.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34209 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Iceland-2019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Iceland-2019.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Iceland-2019-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Iceland-2019-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Iceland-2019-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Iceland-2019-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Kazumi Sakurai | Iceland | 2019<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">The series Dream carries a softness and an airy, almost subconscious atmosphere. What draws you to this dreamlike visual language?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">My eyesight actually isn\u2019t very good \u2014 it\u2019s been the same since I was in high school. But I don\u2019t wear glasses or contact lenses. In the back of my head, I sometimes think I might be trying to avoid seeing reality clearly.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even so, I can clearly see the moment when my heart moves and I press the shutter.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Softness \u2014 sometimes something slightly blurred \u2014 feels comforting to me. It may simply be the kind of beauty I naturally see and live with.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34210 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Hisdream-2006.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"709\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Hisdream-2006.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Hisdream-2006-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Hisdream-2006-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Hisdream-2006-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kazumi-Sakurai-Hisdream-2006-600x405.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Kazumi Sakurai | Hisdream | 2006<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400\">What do you hope viewers feel or discover within themselves when they spend time with your images?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a difficult question for me.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Part of me feels it would be presumptuous to expect something from the viewer. And yet, I share my work because I hope something is felt.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was afraid of connecting with people, yet I longed for connection. I wanted to be understood, but I couldn\u2019t express my true self\u2026 When the stage of sharing photos, all those past feelings come along with them. in a sense, my naked self is just thrown out there.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s frightening, but also the most honest way I know to connect safely with the outside world, and somehow, it feels safe.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400\">If people who see my photographs feel their hearts move a little, and like me, they connect with something\u2014an emotion, an atmosphere, a memory\u2026 if they end up connecting with something within themselves- then I feel very lucky.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where do you live: KauaiYour education: Learned camera basics from my parents as a child, then self-taughtYour discipline: PhotographyWebsite |&nbsp;Instagram Your relationship with photography began almost at birth, through your father\u2019s camera. How do you feel this origin story continues to shape the emotional core of your work today? I don\u2019t consciously remember it, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34222"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34891,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34222\/revisions\/34891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}