All Grants | Cycle 4 –
aliwen is a nonbinary Chilean-Italian artist, curator and writer based in Tokyo. They are pursuing a DPhil at the Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies, Waseda University, researching gender, queerness, photography, and media in postwar Japan. They have recently served as teaching assistant at the Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, and at the School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University. They have curated art exhibitions at Chinretuskan Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts Museum, and BuoY Art Center Kitasenjū, among others. They received numerous scholarships and grants including JASSO (2017), MEXT (2021–23), Visual AIDS (2022), Arts Council Tokyo (2022), MHz Curationist (2023), Tokyo University of the Arts I LOVE YOU Project (2023), Waseda Scholarship for Fostering Researchers in Doctoral Programs (2024), Honjo International Scholarship Foundation (2024–2027) and DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion (2025–2026). Their coedited anthology “metttashpere” was produced with The University of Tokyo and will be published by torch press.
Links
Profile / Research Links
aliwen munoz research profile
Publication Links
“The Art of Loving in Times of Pandemic” (Caja Negra, 30 April 2020)
“Nelson Edwin Rodriguez: Love, Loss, Memory” (Visual AIDS Foundation, February 2023)
Summary of Research Proposal Supported by 10×10 Photobooks Grant:
Women Come Alive: Michiko Matsumoto’s Photobooks and the Ephemera of Women’s Lib in Japan
Photographer Michiko Matsumoto (Japanese, born 1950) had an active role in the Women’s Liberation movement of Japan. Known in the Japanese language as the ūman ribu movement, scholars believe that Women’s Lib in Japan had its roots in the New Left movement of the late 1960s, which combined the struggles of the Anti-War and Anti-Pollution movements with the effervescence of the student protest that emerged starting from 1968. Many of the young female activists who participated in the New Left would eventually find difficulty with the gender hierarchies present in progressive political struggles, and by the late ’60s and all throughout the ’70s, they organized in independent movements that centered their female perspectives while creating their own demonstrations and also participating in larger New Left politics. Matsumoto’s presence in the ūman ribu movement was not only as an active participant in rallies and demonstrations, but also through the lens of her ever-present camera. She merged equal parts artistic subjectivity and reportage when documenting her colleagues in struggle and their political activities. Her seminal photobook, Nobuiyakana onna tachi / Women Come Alive (1978), is an indelible historical record when revisiting the feminist protest of Japan during the height of ūman ribu in the first half of the ’70s, as well as the alternative and separatist camps, communes and community spaces forged by liberated women during the period. Although her work is unique in having documented the Women’s Movement actions and protest from an inside perspective—as opposed to the ridicule, condemnation or radicalizing portrayal of contemporaneous media outlets—Matsumoto’s body of work always paid close attention to the role of female artists and performers who were active participants or allies of the movement. Moreover, since her very first published photobook, Matsumoto has sought to extend her oeuvre towards transnational solidarity amongst females, documenting feminist protests and community in different global terrains.
This research project explores Matsumoto’s photobooks within both the history of ūman ribu and the wider context of feminist protest photography. While her career spans 14 photobooks, this study focuses on her early works from the late 1970s to the 1980s, with particular attention on Women Come Alive. The project is guided by four key themes: positionality, creativity, internationalism and graphic translations.
Positionality: Photography from Within the Movement
Matsumoto was not an outsider documenting feminism from a distance—she was embedded within it. Her “emic” approach, photographing fellow activists from a place of participation rather than observation, raises questions about the relationship between intimacy and documentary practice. How does her proximity to her subjects shape the way the movement is represented? In what ways does her work challenge traditional ideas of neutrality in protest photography? By examining Matsumoto’s position within the movement, this research will explore how her images complicate distinctions between witness and participant.
Creativity: Feminist Art and Protest as Interwoven Practices
While Matsumoto captured street protests and demonstrations, her work also reflects a sustained engagement with feminist artists and performers. By foregrounding women’s creative practices as acts of resistance, she highlights the intersections of political action and artistic worldbuilding. How does this focus shift our understanding of feminist activism? What role do performance, visual art and storytelling play in shaping movements like Ūman ribu? This research will examine how Matsumoto’s images of feminist artists broaden the scope of protest photography.
Internationalism: Feminist Movements Across Borders
Matsumoto’s work extends beyond Japan, engaging with feminist and artistic communities in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. Her photobooks offer a visual dialogue between Japanese activists and their global counterparts, suggesting that feminist struggles, while locally specific, resonate across borders. How do these transnational connections inform our understanding of ūman ribu? In what ways do Matsumoto’s images contribute to a larger visual history of feminist internationalism? This project will analyze the ways in which her work builds bridges between movements, documenting shared strategies, aesthetics and solidarities.
Graphic Translations: Photobooks and the Visual Culture of Protest
Matsumoto’s images were not confined to photobooks—they were widely repurposed in political ephemera, appearing in posters, pamphlets and feminist publications. One key example is the poster for the first Ribu National Conference in 1972, designed by Tomoko Yonezu and Michiko Mori using one of Matsumoto’s photographs from the first Ribu Camp. This research will examine how Matsumoto’s work functioned within a broader feminist visual culture, circulating beyond the pages of her books. How do these applications challenge the idea of the photobook as the primary medium for female photography in Japan? What happens when images move between formats, shifting meaning as they are reinterpreted and reused?
By addressing these questions, this research seeks to reposition Matsumoto’s photobooks within the history of feminist protest photography, demonstrating how her work challenges dominant narratives about both protest and photography itself. Her images serve not only as historical documents but also as sites of ongoing feminist inquiry—tracing connections between political action, creative expression, and international solidarity.