Steam Dreams Artist Talks - Kotarō Imada

Official sentō photographer Kōtaro Imada talks about his work and capturing the distinct architectural and atmospheric qualities of sentō today.

Kōtaro Imada was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido. He was always close to his father who ran a photo studio, and so became familiar with cameras at a young age. Imada began to produce his own photographic works while travelling and working overseas, including working on stock farms in Australia. While travelling through Europe, he became interested in architecture; in particular, he was deeply impressed by the Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona.

After his return to Japan, Imada graduated from the Nippon Photography Institute and in 2005 apprenticed under Yoshinori Komatsu and worked on taking photographs for home builder advertisements. In 2006 he began to take photos using sentō as his main subject. Two years after that, Imada joined the Kawasumi Architecture Photograph Office. In 2014 he became a freelance photographer, and inherited the trade name of his father’s studio. While currently based in Tokyo, he takes architectural photographs throughout the whole of Japan.

This video is part of the extended program surrounding Steam Dreams: The Japanese Public Bath, an exhibition at The Japan Foundation Gallery from February 12 - May 22, 2021.
For more information, please visit jpf.org.au/steam-dreams