Over the 14 years from her schooldays to the present, the photographer Ihara has been taking photos of her grandmother. “Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat” consists of the most recent few years of photos, showing everyday life of her grandmother Misao and the cat Fukumaru.

“One day during the hot summer, the husband of grandmother Misao passed away after 54 years of marriage. Although Misao experienced a great grief at his loss, she quietly accepted his death without tears. (…)
Soon after, a stray cat gave birth to kittens. Grandmother closely followed the progress of those kittens. Then she decided to keep the lonely cat Fukumaru whose siblings died one after another. Fukumaru followed Grandmother as she was working in the field, doing the laundry, and cooking. Fukumaru is always very close to her every day.
(…)
Even if you lose something very precious, even if a storm comes, or maybe your happiness overflows, those days and those moments will never come again. My grandmother lives every day of her life. If you can remain steady and patient, everything will be alright. Tomorrow must be a good day.”
― Miyoko Ihara

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Miyoko Ihara (1981) is a Japanese photographer. After graduating from the Nippon Photography Institute in 2002 she studied under the photojournalist Higuchi Kenji.
Miyoko Ihara lives and works in Japan.