Emi Anrakuji was born in Tokyo, Japan. She studied oil painting at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. Soon after her graduation, she was diagnosed with a cerebral tumor which caused a severe degradation of her eyesight. The illness forced her to abandon her aspiration to become a professional painter. In the course of a deca- de-long recovery, one day she discovered that a camera can be a replacement of her eyes then began teaching herself photography at her hospital bed. Anrakuji’s obsession with the human body is a result, in part, from her long periods spent hospitalized.

Born in Tokyo in 1963, Emi Anrakuji represents herself as an alchemist of images and a catalyst for daydreams and desires. Her deeply personal work blurs the boundaries between documentary and staged photography. Posing naked, clothed, or partially dressed, Anrakuji takes a uniquely obsessive interest in her own body.

She is the author of critically acclaimed monographs, including her most iconic work IPY and MISHO which was selected as one of the finalists under the indepen- dent category of Lucie Photo Book Prize in 2018. Anrakuji’s work continues to be exhibited and collected worldwide