Gelatin silver print
Gelatin silver print
Gelatin silver print
Portraits of Trees (2026-Ongoing)
Seimeiryoku: the innate strength of a living thing to survive, grow, and endure.Kumamoto, Japan
Yakushima, Kagoshima, Japan
Yakushima, Kagoshima, Japan
Landscapes
Ongoing project as long as I continue to travel, and the sun filters through the leaves.Joy Watanabe is a Japanese American photographer based in Los Angeles. Her practice explores the relationship between people, place, and nature. Working primarily with black-and-white film and gelatin silver printing, she photographs landscapes as a way of understanding memory, belonging, and our changing relationship with the natural world.
Watanabe earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from California State University, Long Beach, and is currently studying art and photography at Santa Monica College. Her work has been exhibited at the Barrett Art Gallery, including yamaori taniori (2025) and Oscar (2026), as well as in her solo exhibition, Still Porto (2026), at the legendary El Porto Surf Shop. Her work will also be included in an upcoming group exhibition in Santa Monica in fall 2026.
joyw.image@gmail.com
Education
California State University, Long Beach
B.A. Communication Studies
Santa Monica College
Currently attending
Still Porto
El Porto Surf Shop, Manhattan Beach, CA
2026
Group Exhibitions
Sites of Process: Seeing the Modern World Through a Vintage Lens
Dresher Photo Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2026
47th Annual Juried Exhibition
Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2026
46th Annual Juried Photo Exhibition
Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2025
Ceremony
Virtual Gallery
2020