Totem Pole Photo Gallery - Shinjuku

It’s not yet 6 p.m., but night is already settling over Shinjuku. The side streets are quiet. Shops closed, restaurants not yet open. A striking contrast with the pulsing avenues only a few blocks away

At dusk in Shinjuku

On a small square, a children’s playground and a few trees held upright by bamboo poles shaped like totems. Just behind them - fittingly - the Totem Pole Photo Gallery.

At the entrance sits Sakamoto Minami, photographer of the current exhibition Telescope.

Minami captures the essence of Tokyo. Not the polished, nostalgic city that imitates woodblock prints, but today’s Tokyo: nocturnal, alive with streetwear, music, and creative energy. Her work speaks of youth and light, of fleeting moments in a city that never stops moving. 

Telescope marks a gentle shift from her usual themes, yet her portraits retain a quiet intimacy. Her mastery of light reveals both motion and stillness - the rhythm and pause of urban life.

Totem poles

Through Telescope, Minami embodies exactly what I hope to share one day at Galerie Bokeh : the luminous energy of Tokyo’s young art scene meeting the grounded serenity of old Provençal stone.

Telescope / Sakamoto Minami