Asama International Photo Festival 2026 PHOTO MIYOTA Coming to Nagano's Miyota Town

The 7th edition of the Asama International Photo Festival, PHOTO MIYOTA, is set to take place from August 1 (Saturday) to September 27 (Sunday), 2026. Held at MMoP (Mop), a cultural complex that is home to the Miyota Photography Museum, the festival celebrates art photography against the scenic backdrop of Miyota Town, Nagano Prefecture — a highland community that has been attracting attention as a popular relocation destination in recent years.

Since its launch in 2018, the Asama International Photo Festival has grown in scope and popularity with each passing year. Last year's edition welcomed a record-breaking crowd of over 33,000 visitors. This year's festival runs under the theme "After the Image," with works by photographers from around the world on display both indoors and outdoors.

About the Asama International Photo Festival

The Asama International Photo Festival is an art photography event held in the natural surroundings of the Mount Asama foothills. Since 2018, the festival has been co-organized with local municipalities and businesses across the Asama area, including PHOTO MIYOTA in Miyota Town, PHOTO KITAKARUIZAWA in Naganohara Town, and PHOTO KOMORO in Komoro City.

Curated by Mutsuko Ota, Editorial Director of IMA, a fine-art photography magazine published by amana, the festival showcases works by prominent domestic and international photographers in both indoor and outdoor settings. Weekend programming also includes workshops, photography classes, and a local market featuring Nagano food products and crafts.

Exhibition view from PHOTO MIYOTA 2025

Exhibitions Spread Across Miyota Town

Planned exhibition sites

Previous editions of PHOTO MIYOTA were centered primarily within the MMoP grounds. This year, however, the festival expands to include multiple venues across Miyota Town, inviting visitors to explore different parts of the area as they move between exhibition sites.

New venues include "Ecole Miyota," a multi-purpose cultural facility adjacent to MMoP that houses the town library and the Asama Jomon Museum; "Gokalab," a coworking space themed around expanding the concept of work; and the town's community center (Nishi-Karuizawa No. 2 Community Hall). Works on display will include pieces by professional artists as well as photographs created by residents and creators living in Miyota, capturing the everyday life and spirit of the town.

Exhibition view from PHOTO MIYOTA 2025

Exhibition Theme: "After the Image"

A photograph is not complete the moment the shutter is pressed. It is seen, shared, remembered, forgotten, and sometimes misread — and through all of this, it continues to shift in meaning, amplify, and renew itself in the time "after" it was taken.

"After the Image" turns its gaze to what happens after a photograph is born. In the landscape and daily life of Miyota at the foot of Mount Asama, photographs intersect with scenery, architecture, and everyday movement to become an "experience" that goes beyond mere visual stimulus.

Works do not conclude within the exhibition space alone. They are carried back by each viewer, quietly but certainly changing the way they think and look at the world afterward. "After the Image" is an attempt to ask again what photography is and how images relate to the world — and to pose a gentle question about how we face the "after" of images and what kind of future we choose.

Key Visual Artist: Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen

Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen (@henriettebbesen)

Born in Odense, Denmark in 1994 and based in Copenhagen, Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen is a photographer and filmmaker. Having trained as a medical doctor while also teaching herself photography, she works at the intersection of science and art. Her skillful use of reflections creates a surreal, otherworldly quality in her work.

Her piece for the 2026 festival, titled Growing Up, is a collage that combines old photographs from her family album with new photographs she herself took, reinterpreting the past from a fresh perspective. Through the process of facing images of the past and tracing childhood memories, she discovers her own essence and comes to realize that the world she once took for granted was far more fragile and unpredictable than she had imagined — a reflection on this year's theme, "After the Image."

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