Bio

Natsumi Hayashi

Natsumi Hayashi is a contemporary artist based in Japan, born in Saitama Prefecture in 1982.
She received her B.A. from the College of Arts at Rikkyo University in 2005, and her M.A. from the Graduate School of Community and Human Services at Rikkyo University in 2007.
Working primarily through social media, she has been recognized as a network-based artist who shares her work with audiences around the world.
Her signature series, “Today’s Levitation,” has been widely featured internationally and is included in the collection of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.
She currently updates two ongoing series daily on social media: “SALVATION,” a smartphone photography series that gathers overlooked beauty from the city, and “THE GIRL,” a series of thoughtographs created through dialogue with AI.
She loves wandering through backstreets and enjoying a good drink, and is the author of the photobook “Today’s Levitation” (Seigensha).
She is also the recipient of the Sagamihara Emerging Photographer Incentive Award.

Exhibitions and Publications:

2012:
⚫︎Published the photo book Today’s Levitation, Seigensha
⚫︎The New York Times – “Natsumi Hayashi’s Gravity-Defying Levitation Photos“
2013:
⚫︎Today’s Levitation Exhibition, Spiral Garden, Tokyo
2014:
⚫︎every stroller can change the world. Contemporary Japanese Photography vol.12, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo
⚫︎Sagamihara Photography Newcomer Encouragement Award
2018:
Japan Foundation Traveling Exhibition – “Tokyo Before/After”
2023:
⚫︎Lomography “The Lomo LC-A+ in 2000s Japan“
⚫︎Lomography Japan “Awakening Purity: Diana F+ and Lomography Film“
2025:
⚫︎#SALVATION in OITA Instagram release, JR Oita Station Installation, Oita Bank Red Brick Hall Permanent Display, Oita City Art-Inspired Urban Development Project
⚫︎Mitsumura Tosho Publishing “Middle School Art 1 (Reiwa 7th Edition)“
⚫︎Participated in Oita Art Festival “KAIYUGEKIJO w@nder” (Oita City Art-Based Community Development Project), Oita, Japan
2026:
⚫︎“Reiwa 7 Sagamihara City Collection Exhibition” (Sagamihara Civic Gallery), Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan
⚫︎Italian web magazine Collater.al – “The Invisible Girls of Natsumi Hayashi”
⚫︎Published the art book “THE GIRL” (SNAP COLLECTIVE)

Public Collections:

Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA
Cleveland Clinic, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA
Sagamihara Civic Gallery, Japan