Aya Momose - Camden Art Centre
Type
Residencies
Format
In the Building
Date 10 Oct/19 Nov 2025

Supported by the Japan House London Trust

Aya Momose is an interdisciplinary artist based in Japan who works primarily across film and performance.

Momose’s practice explores the complexities of communication and language as she considers questions of gender and sexuality. Addressing the body and its relationship to others, her work grapples with pervading perceptions of societal norms and the invisible structures of oppression. Confronting the politics of the gaze, Momose’s work reflects on the polarities and imbalances of power and agency, employing methods such as motion capture technology, alternative therapeutic practices, morse code and sign language as tools to interrogate and unsettle these tropes.

Recent works have included Jokanaan (2019), Social Dance (2019), Flos Pavonis (2021), and Crawler (2022).

Throughout her residency, Momose will develop a new choreographic work based on the martial arts practice of jujutsu as she explores the possibilities of how shared identity, subject positions, or even love can be communicated during acts of restraint.

Her research in the UK will focus on Edith Garrud, a jujutsu instructor to the suffragettes, as she considers the psychological and physical conflicts experienced by female activists in moments of direct confrontation during acts of resistance.

The Artist
Aya Momose, still from 'Social Dance', 2019, 10 min 33 sec, single channel video. Collection of Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Aya Momose, still from 'Social Dance', 2019, 10 min 33 sec, single channel video. Collection of Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Aya Momose, 'I.C.A.N.S.E.E.Y.O.U', 2019, 6 min 40 sec, single channel video. Photo: Shingo Kanagawa.
Aya Momose, 'I.C.A.N.S.E.E.Y.O.U', 2019, 6 min 40 sec, single channel video. Photo: Shingo Kanagawa.
Aya Momose, 'Jokanaan', 2019, 12 min 26 sec, two channel video. Collection of Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Photo: ToLoLo studio/Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee
Aya Momose, 'Jokanaan', 2019, 12 min 26 sec, two channel video. Collection of Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Photo: ToLoLo studio/Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee
Aya Momose, still from 'To Cuddle a Goat, a Poor Grammar Exercise', 2016, Single channel video, 13 min 50 sec
Aya Momose, still from 'To Cuddle a Goat, a Poor Grammar Exercise', 2016, Single channel video, 13 min 50 sec
Aya Momose, still from 'Flos Pavonis', 2021, single channel video, 30 min.
Aya Momose, still from 'Flos Pavonis', 2021, single channel video, 30 min.
'Love Condition' [Mai ENDO×Aya MOMOSE] 2020, single channel video, 1 h 15 min 40 sec
'Love Condition' [Mai ENDO×Aya MOMOSE] 2020, single channel video, 1 h 15 min 40 sec
Aya Momose, 'Crawler', 2022, Participatory performance, 20 min Photo: Takayuki Imai ©Aichi Triennale 2022
Aya Momose, 'Crawler', 2022, Participatory performance, 20 min Photo: Takayuki Imai ©Aichi Triennale 2022
'Here', 2016, phone number Photo: Kenji Seo
'Here', 2016, phone number Photo: Kenji Seo
Aya Momose, still from 'Born to Die', 2020, single channel video, 5 min 20 sec.
Aya Momose, still from 'Born to Die', 2020, single channel video, 5 min 20 sec.
Aya Momose, still from 'Social Dance', 2019, 10 min 33 sec, single channel video. Collection of Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Aya Momose, still from 'Social Dance', 2019, 10 min 33 sec, single channel video. Collection of Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Aya Momose, 'Jokanaan', 2019, 12 min 26 sec, two channel video. Collection of Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Photo: ToLoLo studio/Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee
Aya Momose, 'Jokanaan', 2019, 12 min 26 sec, two channel video. Collection of Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. Photo: ToLoLo studio/Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee
Aya Momose, still from 'Flos Pavonis', 2021, single channel video, 30 min.
Aya Momose, still from 'Flos Pavonis', 2021, single channel video, 30 min.
Aya Momose, 'Crawler', 2022, Participatory performance, 20 min Photo: Takayuki Imai ©Aichi Triennale 2022
Aya Momose, 'Crawler', 2022, Participatory performance, 20 min Photo: Takayuki Imai ©Aichi Triennale 2022
Aya Momose, still from 'Born to Die', 2020, single channel video, 5 min 20 sec.
Aya Momose, still from 'Born to Die', 2020, single channel video, 5 min 20 sec.
Aya Momose, 'I.C.A.N.S.E.E.Y.O.U', 2019, 6 min 40 sec, single channel video. Photo: Shingo Kanagawa.
Aya Momose, 'I.C.A.N.S.E.E.Y.O.U', 2019, 6 min 40 sec, single channel video. Photo: Shingo Kanagawa.
Aya Momose, still from 'To Cuddle a Goat, a Poor Grammar Exercise', 2016, Single channel video, 13 min 50 sec
Aya Momose, still from 'To Cuddle a Goat, a Poor Grammar Exercise', 2016, Single channel video, 13 min 50 sec
'Love Condition' [Mai ENDO×Aya MOMOSE] 2020, single channel video, 1 h 15 min 40 sec
'Love Condition' [Mai ENDO×Aya MOMOSE] 2020, single channel video, 1 h 15 min 40 sec
'Here', 2016, phone number Photo: Kenji Seo
'Here', 2016, phone number Photo: Kenji Seo

The Artist

Aya Momose, born 1988, lives and works in Japan. Recent solo exhibitions include: 10 Years, TALION GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan 2024; My Open Seam, Kurume City Plaza, Fukuoka, Japan (2023), Momose Aya: Interpreter, Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan (2022); Voice Samples, Art Gallery 1, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan (2014). Recent group exhibitions include: The eyes of the wind, The Big Table, Athens, Greece (2024); Feminism and the Moving Image, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan (2024); Connecting Bodies: Asian Women Artists, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) Seoul, Korea (2024); FEMINISMS, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan (2021); New ways to grow: Artists envision a post-Covid world, The University Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2021); Aichi Triennale 2022 Aichi Arts Center, Japan (2022); Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2016).
Momose’s practice has notably been part of the Aichi Triennale 2022 and Rappongi Crossing 2016 exhibitions. Her work has also been acquired by major public collections in Japan, including Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa and the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka.

Portrait photo by Shingo Kanagawa.

Related

Events Open Studio: Aya Momose

Open Studio: Aya Momose

16 Nov 2025/16 Nov 2025
In the Building