Akira The Hustler

Akira the Hustler (b. 1969, Tokyo) completed his MFA in Painting at Kyoto City University of Arts in 1995. As a student, he participated in the APP (AIDS Poster Project), which set the course for his lifelong engagement with issues such as HIV/AIDS, sexuality, nuclear power, and racial discrimination. Throughout his practice, Akira has consistently positioned himself at the intersection of artist and activist.

His first solo exhibition in 2000 marked the beginning of a series of shows at Ota Fine Arts in the early 2000s, where he presented installations incorporating photography and video. At the time, Akira was also working as a gay host and sex worker, while performing as a drag queen. Parallel to these lived experiences, he carried out HIV awareness campaigns and anti-war activism, creating works that challenged prevailing political conditions and the ways society views others-ultimately questioning how individuals choose to face the world and the future.

In his 2008 exhibition Living Together, he made visible the voices of people living with HIV and their families and partners, shedding light on lives often rendered invisible. By also emphasizing the joys and laughter that form part of their reality, the project invited audiences to imagine ways of living together in society with empathy and solidarity.

His 2012 solo exhibition Ordinary Lives addressed everyday struggles tied to sexuality and identity, while the 2019 two-person exhibition Welcome to the Parade both celebrated solidarity among different minority groups and underscored the difficulties of simply living "normally" in the face of social constraints.

In recent years, Akira's practice has increasingly drawn directly from his activism. His Tools of Hope series adopts the form of protest banners and placards to envision hope for the future; his cloud-headed figures embody voluntary and autonomous solidarity; and his works referencing sit-in movements explore new modes of resistance against oppression.

As Akira himself writes in his book A Whore Diary, "To disguise one's true feelings may protect oneself, but it does not protect the world." Guided by this conviction, his work continues to express the possibility of a society where future generations-even if minorities-can live freely, sustained by the enduring vision of hope.

Biography
1969　Born in Tokyo
1995　Completed MFA in Painting, Kyoto City University of Arts
Lives and works in Tokyo

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023　Here's Your Playground, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
2012　Ordinary Lives, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
2008　Living Together, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo

Selected Group Exhibitions
2022　Be there, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore
2019　Welcome to the Parade, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
2018　STREET JUSTICE: Art, Sound and Power, Galaxy Ginga-kei, Tokyo
2017　Reborn Art Festival 2017, Ishinomaki, Miyagi
2011　CAFE in Mito 2011: Colors of Relations, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki
2010　Love's Body: Art in the Age of AIDS, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo

Selected Collections
Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo