Found in Japan’s oldest book of poetry, Ayu no Kaze is a sailor’s phrase meaning “the wind of promise.” After relocating to the US, Shimazaki returned to Japan time and again to visit her native land. Alone through mild sun and fierce blizzards, her images are an exploration of a place left behind. A diary of yearning and serenity, Shimazaki’s gaze poetically alludes to life transitions that are at once privately intimate and deeply universal.

Asako Shimazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 1984, Shimazaki moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and in 1991 completed her BFA in photography at SFAI. Shimazaki exhibits her work in both the United States and Japan, and is represented in the permanent collection at SFMOMA.