Mai Toyama
Born in Osaka, Japan, with Korean heritage, Mai Toyama has been based in France since 2010.
She studied classical and contemporary music, improvisation, chamber music, and music education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and CEFEDEM of Normandy, where she obtained the French State Diploma (Diplôme d’État).
Her performances across Europe often unfold in the spaces between movement and stillness, noise and silence. Working at the intersection of improvisation and visual arts, her practice extends beyond music into writing, photography, and installation. At times it takes the form of community engagement, workshops, or collaborations—expressions that often defy categorization. Her work continues to explore the question: what is expression, really?
Since 2018, she has embraced photography as another language, gently capturing traces of memory, atmosphere, and emotional resonance. Moving between France, Japan, and Korea, the boundary between documenting and living gradually dissolves.
At the confluence of sound, image, and community, her practice weaves spaces where personal rituals quietly resonate with collective memory.
Her first photography book, PA POUN PA, was published by OKKO in 2024.
Solo Photography Exhibitions
• 2025.08.01–03 – Before Making Begins – Balloons and the Gesture of Looking, Ichinomiya Bisai Museum of History and Folklore - Gallery Space, Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan
• 2024.08.20–21 – Coffee Tatsukichi, Kichijoji, Tokyo
• 2023.08.05–07 – Veje, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan
Group Exhibitions & Collaborations
• 2025.09.11–23 – PA POUN PA Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 – The Apartment
Toyooka, Hyōgo, Japan
• 2025.05.24–25 – Art Book Osaka 2025
• 2025.03.01–02 – CP+ ZINE Fair 2025 with OKKO, PACIFICO Yokohama
• 2024.10.24–11.03 – Why am I making things?, Nagoya, Aichi
• 2023.08.03–25 – [OPC] Elevaty, Osaka
• 2023.06.09–07.02 – Ko Hana, Fleurs et Céramique, Paris
• 2023.02 – Paris & Normandie / livre blue, livre blanc for Shin Ikegami, Coffee Tatsukichi, Tokyo
• 2021– – JAMAIS VU by Tomo Kosuga
• 2020.10.31–11.06 – [syn-phōnē], Tokyo Design Festa Gallery
• 2020.11.06–10 – Konomachinokatasumide, Awaiya Books, Osaka
Publications
• PA POUN PA – photo book published by OKKO (2024)
• Featured in Subsequence Magazine vol.7 (photographed the Capu's family in France)
Concerts & Cultural Events
2025
• Kamishibai Performance ENNICHI – Collaboration with Espace Japon and Hôtel Le Grand Quartier, Paris 10
2024
• Completion Ceremony of The World's Largest Painting PARIS 2024 – Earth Identity Project & Paris 15th district City Hall
• Lecture: Musicians and Musculoskeletal Disorders – with Dr. Thomas Mamou, Paris 16
• Fête de la Musique – Saxophone Quartet Ko Hana, Paris 19
• Musical workshops and performances in kindergartens, Paris
JAMAIS VU by Tomo Kosuga (2021)
PA POUN PA – photo book published by OKKO (2024)
Client work (-2025)
Solo Photography Exhibitions
• 2025.08.01–03 – Before Making Begins – Balloons and the Gesture of Looking, Ichinomiya Bisai Museum of History and Folklore - Gallery Space, Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan
• 2024.08.20–21 – Coffee Tatsukichi, Kichijoji, Tokyo
• 2023.08.05–07 – Veje, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan
Group Exhibitions & Collaborations
• 2025.09.11–23 – PA POUN PA Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 – The Apartment
Toyooka, Hyōgo, Japan
• 2025.05.24–25 – Art Book Osaka 2025
• 2025.03.01–02 – CP+ ZINE Fair 2025 with OKKO, PACIFICO Yokohama
• 2024.10.24–11.03 – Why am I making things?, Nagoya, Aichi
• 2023.08.03–25 – [OPC] Elevaty, Osaka
• 2023.06.09–07.02 – Ko Hana, Fleurs et Céramique, Paris
• 2023.02 – Paris & Normandie / livre blue, livre blanc for Shin Ikegami, Coffee Tatsukichi, Tokyo
• 2021– – JAMAIS VU by Tomo Kosuga
• 2020.10.31–11.06 – [syn-phōnē], Tokyo Design Festa Gallery
• 2020.11.06–10 – Konomachinokatasumide, Awaiya Books, Osaka
Publications
• PA POUN PA – photo book published by OKKO (2024)
• Featured in Subsequence Magazine vol.7 (photographed the Capu's family in France)
Concerts & Cultural Events
2025
• Kamishibai Performance ENNICHI – Collaboration with Espace Japon and Hôtel Le Grand Quartier, Paris 10
2024
• Completion Ceremony of The World's Largest Painting PARIS 2024 – Earth Identity Project & Paris 15th district City Hall
• Lecture: Musicians and Musculoskeletal Disorders – with Dr. Thomas Mamou, Paris 16
• Fête de la Musique – Saxophone Quartet Ko Hana, Paris 19
• Musical workshops and performances in kindergartens, Paris
PA POUN PA – photo book published by OKKO (2024)
JAMAIS VU by Tomo Kosuga (2021)
Client work (-2025)