michael kenna, kostuik gallery, jennifer kostuik, yaletown, photography exhibition, vancouver, bc, canada, west coast fine art

From a Business Card to a Seven-Year Partnership: Michael Kenna and Kostuik Gallery

Yaletown is slightly overcast, the lush dampness of the foliage hanging in the air. From a chair inside Kostuik Gallery, I watch couples on the street socializing with their dogs and hot coffees as wet leaves lay heavy on the sidewalk. Within the gallery’s four walls, the light is bright and the room is calm, and I settle in with a peppermint tea across from owner and director Jennifer Kostuik, who is preparing for the launch of Beautiful Fukushima, a new exhibition by photographer Michael Kenna.

Kenna’s connection to Vancouver began with a business card. On a chilly Sunday in February 2019, Michael and his wife Mamta were visiting the city, and Mamta suggested they look at some galleries. Michael was sure everything would be closed. He found Kostuik Gallery open and busy, left a card at the reception desk, and planned to return on his next trip north from Seattle.

Michael Kenna & Jennifer Kostuik | Image courtesy of Kostuik Gallery

That card mattered because of who left it. Born in Widnes, Lancashire in 1953, Kenna trained at the London College of Printing, moved to San Francisco in 1977, and has since published 47 books and held almost 500 solo exhibitions. His work is held by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in 2022 France named him Officier des Arts et des Lettres.

Later that day in 2019, his phone rang. Jennifer apologized for being so busy and for not recognizing him, and he laughed and reminded her that photographers prefer the anonymity of standing behind a camera. They met that evening once the gallery closed, and within an hour the two had everything settled. Seven years on, I asked Jennifer what that partnership looks like from her side of the desk.

Helen Siwak: Kenna’s work is held by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and his life archive now sits with the French State. How does that recognition shape the way you introduce his work?

Jennifer Kostuik: It shapes it a great deal, because a medium format image is small, and I need people to understand what stands behind it. The prestige of a 50-year career, the talent and effort it takes to shoot on site and hand print each image, and the number of private and public collections worldwide are all a must explain. A collector seeking gems from a photographic gallery would likely know of Michael Kenna. An art purchaser visiting a fine art gallery showing all kinds of work, such as mine, “may not even expect that such an esteemed artist’s work is available to them in this city or Canada in general!”

michael kenna, kostuik gallery, jennifer kostuik, yaletown, photography exhibition, vancouver, bc, canada, west coast fine art

Every Kenna print is made by his own hand, in his own darkroom, in a sepia-toned silver gelatin process which Michael has described as in danger of becoming a lost art. How does that craft shape the way you speak about his prints to the gallery’s visitors?

In an age of mass-produced digital images, with everyone taking pictures on their phones, I feel the understanding of the original way to photograph and create permanent prints, such as platinum palladium and silver gelatin, has almost been forgotten. My staff and I give a quick educational summary, and people usually make the leap that hand-made is still around and worthy of collecting, for the sheer beauty of the image and the skill of the craft.

You have represented Michael Kenna for seven years. Take Sairyuji in Snow, where a serene stone figure emerges from the white. How does an image like that make you feel, and what first drew you to his work?

Michael asked me to choose what I wanted to present from the 50 new images in his Beautiful Fukushima series. I chose what I personally found captivating and elegant, and what told the story of his intentions visually. Sairyuji in Snow tells me a story of the hope and resilience of the community, portrayed as a sculpture, much like “revealing a beautiful image when one wipes away the snow of the winter to reveal the spring to come.”

Beautiful Fukushima: Exhibition Details

The 50 sepia-toned silver gelatin photographs in Beautiful Fukushima mark fifteen years since the natural disasters of 2011. The series was first presented in Japan and has travelled through Europe and the US before arriving in Vancouver. Kenna’s work first appeared at Kostuik Gallery in a 2019 group exhibition, and this solo show marks his dedicated return as the gallery celebrates 29 years.

Each print is made in Kenna’s own darkroom, where he has hand-printed his work for more than four decades, often photographing at dawn or at night with long exposures on Hasselblad and Holga cameras. His life archive, now held by the French State at Fort Saint-Cyr, includes 3,683 prints and 175,000 negatives from 43 countries.

Exhibition: Beautiful Fukushima, by Michael Kenna
Dates: October 15 to November 1, 2026
Opening reception: Thursday, October 15, 5 to 7 pm, with the artist in attendance
Location: Kostuik Gallery, 1070 Homer Street, Vancouver
Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm; Saturday 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday 12 pm to 4 pm
At the opening: a limited-edition, signed mini-collotype portfolio of the series

Author Profile

Helen Siwak, Luxury Lifestyle Observer: Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Communications & Marketing Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine and PORTFOLIOY.YVR Business & Entrepreneurs Magazine. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury and luxury lifestyle niches. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read business magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and is an EIC for Hire. Connect with her here: [email protected].