IMA is one of Japan's premier photography magazine. Launched in 2012, the quarterly features photography from Japan and around the world. In 2014, the magazine opened IMA Concept Store, a gallery-bookshop located in the heart of Tokyo's Roppongi district. The gallery holds regular photography exhibitions, events and talks by photographers and industry leaders, and it is an exciting venue to discover new Japanese talent like Yoshinori Mizutani and Takashi Suzuki. The space was recently refreshed, and no longer has a cafe.
The title 'Ima' is Japanese for now, a reference to its interest in contemporary photography. Each issue of the magazine revolves around a specific theme, anything from street photography to portraits, travel and cities. A variety of photographers are selected to participate in each issue, and are introduced through interviews, reviews and long-form editorials. You can find backdated copies of the magazine at the store.
In April 2016, the gallery collaborated with MACK, a London-based photobook publisher, on MACK CONCEPT TOKYO. In conjunction with this, the gallery promoted and exhibited work from three MACK-published Japanese photographers: Masahisa Fukase's Hibi, Takashi Homma's The Narcissistic City and Mayumi Hosokura's Transparency is the new mystery. The gallery had also set up a temporary MACK store selling selected titles from its collection. At this time, it was possible to buy titles such as Julian Germain's For Every Minute That You Are Angry You Lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness, Alec Soth's Songlines and Jungjin Lee's Unnamed Road.
The gallery also stocks IMA Photobooks, its in-house photobook publishing label that was launched in 2014. Whilst the label's primary focus is on discovering and publishing works by young and emerging Japanese photographers, it has also published books by international photographers. IMA Photobooks is distinguished by the use of excellent Japanese printing technology, adding to the joy of viewing photography in book form. Among its titles are Rinko Kawauchi/Terri Weifenbach's Gift, Yohei Kichiraku's Birds and Stephen Shore's Winslow Arizona.
The next exhibition is a revisit of IMA gallery's most popular work, and it starts on April 26 and will run through to 21 May. For photography enthusiasts, there is the upcoming Insight: IMA Photo School taught by industry professionals.
